PART 7 - Oberon

The ash desert was utterly hostile to all forms of life. At dawn, Magos Peclaw had left the hive city on foot to begin his perilous pilgrimage across the arid wasteland of Armageddon Secundus. Alongside the Magos, Datasmith Quadro strode through the shifting ash dunes; his heavy mechanical tread a stark contrast to the Magos' serpentine shuffle. Several platoons of augmented Skitarii accompanied the two tech-priests; forming a column of cybernetic creatures striding beneath the scorching sun.

Walking without rest for a day and a night brought the column near to their destination. Adept Quadro paused his relentless stride to survey the desert ahead. 'Where is it Magos?' He asked.

'Have faith Quadro,' Magos Peclaw replied 'all will soon be revealed.'

As Quadro watched, the first rays of Armageddon's sun breached the horizon. His optical augmetics adjusted to compensate for the dazzling glare. Then, he saw it.

The sun's rays glinted from a spar of bright metal almost fully submerged beneath the shifting sands. Quadro strode forwards to examine the buried machinery. At first glance it had appeared to be an isolated piece of wreckage; but on closer inspection, he could see that it was part of a vast circular ring seemingly set into the ground.

Quadro's internal cogitators rapidly calculated the circumference of the object based on the visible section. 'Omnissiah!' He gasped. The thing was truly enormous; a portal of steel and adamantium large enough to permit and entire company of super heavy tanks to pass abreast.

In awe, he turned to Magos Peclaw.

'Magos, what is this place?'

The tech-priest regarded him with his six optic lenses.

'A place only spoken of in the legends of this planet.' He replied. 'I have dredged the memories of many ancient machines to find this location. Welcome, Adept Quadro, to the tomb of Oberon.'

PART 4 - Chosen of the Omnissiah

"Fall back." Magos Peclaw gave the order in calm binaric cant. The din of battle raged around them, but the Magos communication methods were unhindered by such primitive things.


As one, the Cybernetica Kastelans stepped backwards from the mass of howling berserkers. They wouldn't have time to engage their weapons but it gave Adept Quadro the time he needed to effect some rapid battlefield repairs. Singing in glorious binary, his machine voice joined with that of his cohorts as his servo arms quickly stitched armour panels back together and rerouted damaged electronics.


The heretic berserkers were only meters away, clambering over rubble and smashed bodies to close with their escaping quarry. Quadro couldn't take his eyes off them. For one so machine touched as he, fear was impossible, even so, Quadro felt afraid. These insane killers had reduced a squad of skitarii to scrap metal in mere seconds and had badly damaged one of his precious Kastelans. Given his past failures, he could ill afford the loss of another priceless robot.


Desultory fire from the nearby Skitarii put a couple of the traitors down but it wasn't enough to halt their crazed charge. With a deafening scream, the wall of armoured Astartes collided with the robots once again, their roaring chainblades emitting a high pitched shriek as they carved into hardened ceramite.


"Into them!" Magos Peclaw emitted a command impulse to all squads in close proximity.


Despite his fear, the power of the command was enough to force Adept Quadro back into the fray. He raised his voice, singing prayers to the Omnissiah and swung his power fist at the closest berserker. The weapon was awesomely powerful, but his blow was poorly aimed and he only managed to knock the traitor down into the dirt. The berserker barely seemed to notice, screaming and howling, he hacked at the nearest robot from his prone position.


Quadro registered alert chimes from one of the Kastelans, it was badly damaged, seemly remaining standing only by the will of the Machine God. Through a gap in the melee, Quadro caught a glimpse of the most terrifying sight he was yet to behold. Hurtling towards them was a giant Astartes clad in an enormous suit of ancient power armour. In his hands he held a massive chainaxe which revved and spat sparks as the traitor gunned the trigger spasmodically. Even over the cries of the traitors, Quadro could hear him repeating the same three words in an endless rhythm.


"Cleaver the Choppa. Cleaver the Choppa. Cleaver the Choppa......."


Quadro had no idea what it meant, he was utterly transfixed as the armoured giant smashed into the damaged Kastelan. Shoulder barging it down to the ground before smashing his massive axe downwards to carve through it's chestplate.


"No!" Quadro screamed. His horror at seeing one of his robots fall was so complete that he ceased his binaric song and reverted to his flesh voice.


The traitor didn't pay any attention, swinging his axe in huge arcs to carve apart the immobilised robot.


"Fall back." The calm order came again from Magos Peclaw. The remaining robot stepped back from the berserkers awaiting Quadro to do the same.


Quadro's face was streaked with tears, machine oil and salt water combining to leave greasy trails on his metallic mask. Caught up in pure rage, he didn't acknowledge his master's order. Instead he charged forward, smashing his power fist into the nearest berserker. The traitor was hurled out of the melee, his corpse crashing into a ruined wall in a cloud of dust. Another traitor came at him, and Quadro delivered a huge uppercut that virtually tore the berserker in half and left his remains crumpled on the ground.


As the last of the berserkers died, Quadro found his voice again. A powerful hymn filled his noospheric aura; the Holy data making him glow with a nimbus of pure light. At this, the crazed Khorne Lord looked up from his murderous hacking. The skulls on his armour rattling as he shook with anticipation at the violence to come.


"Cleaver the Choppa...." He intoned slowly.


Quadro stepped forward through the wreckage and torn bodies. Like a Saint striding into the jaws of hell he walked towards the giant Chaos Lord and challenged him face to face.


Without warning, the traitor swung his axe. Quadro swayed aside but it wasn't enough to avoid the blow entirely and the vicious chain teeth chewed into his iron body leaving him grievously wounded. In spite of the pain, he punched his opponent as hard as possible, pulping his flesh and spraying shards of armour in a wide arc.


The Chaos Lord seemed momentarily surprised by the resilience of his diminutive opponent. He stepped back with a slight nod before rushing forward to attack again.


The axe hurtled down in a massive overhand strike, but the blow never connected.


For a moment, the two combatants stood immobile as Quadro gripped the traitor's axe in the palm of his fist. Quadro's aura blazed with light as he pushed back against the brute strength of his enemy.


"Cleaver....the...." The brute bellowed into his face.


Quadro fired from the hip. His Gamma pistol boring a huge blackened hole through his opponent's torso. Mortally wounded, the Chaos Lord slumped to his knees.


"....Choppa..." He wheezed from his ruined lungs.


Quadro remained silent, closing the palm of his powered gauntlet, he snapped the haft of the axe before delivering a brutal punch that smashed the traitor to the ground. He remained standing just long enough to spit a wad of greasy haemolubricant at his defeated foe before collapsing as his wounds overcame him.

- - -

Standing scant meters away; Magos Peclaw couldn't believe what he had witnessed. His subordinate had disobeyed his orders and attacked the enemy commander in reckless single combat. His actions were totally out of character for the quiet man that Peclaw knew. More than that, he couldn't believe the aura of blessed conviction that had blazed from Quadro during those last moments. Truly the Omnissiah had reached out and touched him.


Peclaw continued to loop the fall back order to all troops under his command. This attack had been a grievous mistake and they had taken heavy losses; the only logical course now was to retreat and preserve whatever he could.


If Quadro's actions had shocked him; what happened next left Peclaw utterly stunned. Despite his continuing order to fall back, the last Kastelan Robot walked forward into the space left by the brutal melee. Small arms fire ricocheted from it's metal frame as it bent down to pick up the limp body of Adept Quadro. Quietly, the armoured giant turned and bore him from the field.


Standing in awe at what he had witnessed. Magos Peclaw was still aware enough to make out a faint noospheric light emanating from Quadro's body, it seemed the Machine God had a plan for him still.

PART 3 - Difference of Opinion

Magos Peclaw was furious. As one of the highest ranking members of the Adeptus Mechanicus, such emotions did not come easily to him; but this time someone had overstepped the mark. He perambulated through the corridors of the Harpsichord at great speed; carelessly knocking aside servitors and automated repair drones. The engine bay of the great ship was only a few meters ahead and as he closed the distance he felt his anger mounting further.

                ‘How dare he!?’ Peclaw thought, as he emitted a shriek of agitated hexamathic code.

Reaching the engine room, the doors shot aside as if sensing the wrathful approach of their master. Magos Peclaw crawled through the entrance upon his many limbs; his ocular lenses focusing as he searched for the object of his frustration. Across the room, he spied the robed form of adept Tarquon working upon some enormous cable banks.

                ‘Adept Tarquon!’ Peclaw raged, storming towards the aged Enginseer. ‘Cease your ministrations and explain yourself immediately!’

                Enginseer Tarqon turned slowly to face his accuser. His bionic augmentations clanked as he moved, the quality of the components much cruder than those possessed by Magos Peclaw.

                ‘Honoured Magos.’ Tarquon bowed slightly, making the sign of the cog with his mortal hands. His servo arms continued to work on the exposed cabling even while his back was turned.

                ‘I said cease!’ Peclaw screamed, the force of his command causing Tarquon’s servos to sieze momentarily. ‘What abomination are you creating here? What do you imagine gives you the right to perform such experiments aboard my vessel? I demand that you explain yourself immediately!’

                Staring up into his master’s withering stare, Tarquon replied ‘I am fully prepared to give a complete explanation Magos; please bear with me a moment.’ He retreated slightly to a nearby control console and made some swift adjustments. The blast shutters slid back from the viewing station of the engineering bay and Tarquon motioned for Magos Peclaw to join him at the viewport.

                ‘See here, I have created a focusing array very similar to the Eradication Ray borne by your esteemed self.’ He indicated a vast cylinder of focusing rings extending outwards from the hull of the ship.

                ‘I see what you have done,’ Peclaw replied scornfully ‘you should know that no experiments in enlarging the size of Eradicator technology have yielded successful results. The power demands are simply too great, even allowing for the most advanced capacitance technology. You have been wasting your time when you should be attending to your duties. The duties of an Enginseer!’ Here he paused and leered down at Tarqon ‘Haven’t you got a Chimera to repair or something?’

                Tarquon furrowed his brow in annoyance ‘Magos Peclaw, I believe I have overcome the capacitance problem using some of Archmagos Drecheyvac’s theorems-‘

                Peclaw cut him off ‘Drecheyvac! I should have known! I will be on my way to see that old meddler next! I demand that you dismantle this ridiculous assemblage and return my ship to full working order immediately-‘

                Tarquon interrupted, raising his voice ‘Magos please, if you will just allow me to demonstrate. My Eradicator will work on a galactic scale, I am certain of it.’ He reached over to the control console and pressed a sequence of keys, the whine of huge capacitors began to build in an ear splitting crescendo.

                Despite the mounting noise, the two Adepts of the Mechanicus continued to argue. Indeed they were so incensed with one another that nobody was looking from the viewport as the gigantic focusing array began to glow a ruddy pink with a massive concentration of arcane power. As critical mass was achieved, the energies released in an intense beam of etheric particles which covered the distance to the nearest planet far faster than conventional physics would allow.

                Unnoticed by any living soul aboard the Harpsichord; the tenth planet of the Charadon system evaporated quietly into non-existence.

PART 2 – Explorator

08:43:21 Hours Sidereal – In transit.

Quadro gazed from the viewport of the small transit vessel at the bright silhouette of the distant planet. Designated  Phi-Delta-Three-Sixty-Three  and noted in Imperial records as ‘Eskade’ it had been chosen by Magos Peclaw as the first of their exploratory missions into the sector due to some anomalous warp signatures picked up from their temporary home on Daedalus.

Quadro didn’t like it. Looking down on the rich green colour of the approaching world made him uneasy. For one so close to the machine, such superstitions were anathema. But regardless, something didn’t feel right. Continuing to stare, unblinking through his ocular implants the planet seemed to twist, morphing for a split second into the head of a great lupine creature, howling at the distant stars. Quadro shook his head and replayed the last few seconds of visual recording, there was nothing to be seen, only the great green globe spinning lazily in the void.

With mounting trepidation Quadro opened a vox channel to Magos Peclaw on the command deck.

“Magos. Are you detecting anything out of the ordinary?”

“All atmospheric, radiant and immaterial signatures remain within acceptable limits.” Replied the Magos. “Is something amiss Quadro?”

Quadro paused before replying “Nothing is wrong honoured Magos. Still, I think it would be pertinent for you to take the Kastelans down to the surface. The experience will be valuable for their combat wetware.”

“I am hardly likely to encounter any hostiles Quadro.” Peclaw said “Still, the Kastelans are your responsibility and if some simple reconnaissance will be good for their machine spirits then so be it. Glory to the Machine God.” The vox line went dead.

“Glory to the Machine God.” Quadro replied softly into the empty air. He stared down at the approaching planet once again trying to convince himself with cold logic that Magos Peclaw would return safely.

 

11:16:01 Hours Sidereal – Planetfall.

Materialising softly within the dense green atmosphere of ‘Eskade’ Magos Peclaw conducted a routine noospheric sweep of his expeditionary forces. All units were reporting readiness and he sensed the looming forms of the two Cybernetica robots at his back. They seemed grossly unnecessary amongst his smaller Skitarii cohorts but Quadro had insisted that this patrol would be beneficial for the ancient machines and he had indulged his subordinate.

                Extending his machine senses, Peclaw was shocked to discover the faint energy signature of a rare, ancient technology approximately two kilometres to the East.

                “Volkite weapons.” He mused distractedly.

                With a binaric command, the forces of the Omnissiah turned in the direction of the priceless technology and set off at a brisk pace. They had barely covered five hundred meters when Magos Peclaw called a halt. A host of warp ghosts and immaterial signatures were appearing across his sensors and with mounting alarm; he called all Skitarii to battle readiness.

                Out of the green mists a host of twisted creatures advanced on his position. Howling mutants and daemons mixed with traitor Astartes ran forwards to engage his metallic platoons. He shared his visual feed with Adept Quadro aboard their orbiting support craft.

                “Quadro, confirm you are seeing this.” Magos Peclaw commanded.

                “Confirmed Magos, how did we not detect such a force from orbit?”

                “I do not know Quadro,” Peclaw replied “The secrets of these creatures are best left unknown. I will eradicate them and request reinforcements from you once a drop site is cleared.”

                “Acknowledged Magos.” Quadro replied.

As the two forces closed the two Kastelan robots opened fire, the proximity of their cannons causing Magos Peclaw to deploy his auditory baffles to protect his delicate machine senses. In the distance he could see armoured bodies falling from a ruined gantry as the burning projectiles struck home.

                Without warning an ancient Rhino roared through the ruins disgorging a squad of warped Astartes bearing squalling sonic weapons. Before they could react, an entire platoon of Skitarii was turned into scrap metal by the wall of deafening sound. Peclaw readied his ancient eradicator and fired a silent stream of energised particles. In a moment of peculiar calm, over half of the traitors were simply erased from existence.

                Without his Skitarii to protect him, Magos Peclaw was left undefended against the oncoming hordes of daemons. Undefended but not helpless, he thought grimly as he raised his enormous axe in readiness for the bloodshed to come. As the plague ridden creatures charged home, Peclaw drew his machine pistol and let loose a burst of rapid fire slugs which tore one of the daemons apart. Then they were upon him, their infected blades stabbing at his precious metallic body. Methodically he defended himself with sweeps of his staff, using the axe head to bludgeon them into pools of stinking ichor one by one. His sensors registered minor system damage but it was easily repaired by his artificer bionics.

                At some unheard signal, the remaining Daemons evaporated into the ether. The last few Astartes disengaged from their one sided firefight with the Kastelans and boarded their rusting transport roaring off into the wasteland. Magos Peclaw surveyed the carnage dismally. So many of his wonderful Skitarii had been blasted apart by the traitors’ blasphemous weaponry. Dimly he registered the energy ghost of the precious Volkite weapon on the horizon. Calling forward his reserve platoons, he trudged onwards into the fog.

PART 1 - Daedalus in Exile

The Mysteries

• 01. Life is directed motion.
• 02. The spirit is the spark of life.
• 03. Sentience is the ability to learn the value of knowledge.
• 04. Intellect is the understanding of knowledge.
• 05. Sentience is the basest form of Intellect.
• 06. Understanding is the True Path to Comprehension.
• 07. Comprehension is the key to all things.
• 08. The Omnissiah knows all, comprehends all.

The Warnings

• 09. The alien mechanism is a perversion of the True Path.
• 10. The soul is the conscience of sentience.
• 11. A soul can be bestowed only by the Omnissiah.
• 12. The Soulless sentience is the enemy of all life.
• 13. The knowledge of the ancients stands beyond question.
• 14. The Machine Spirit guards the knowledge of the Ancients.
• 15. Flesh is fallible, but ritual honours the Machine Spirit.
• 16. To break with ritual is to break with faith.

 

Quadro shuffled along the darkened corridor deep within the bowels of his master’s forge complex. He was under no illusions as to his status here, he had failed, utterly. Without warning the Genestealer cult had overrun the Biologis facility on Planktus Alpha. His meagre force of Skitarii had been torn apart and worse yet, he had lost a precious pair of Cybernetica Kastelans. Quadro’s tear ducts had long since been removed as a needless organic indulgence; yet the thought of alien claws tearing his robotic children to pieces caused him a great pang of sorrow. For a Datasmith, there was no greater shame than the destruction of his robotic charges.

Quadro paused before a great iron portal, the enormous brass skull at its centre leered down at him as if in judgement. He tried to stand straighter, determined to face this last trial with the remains of his honour. However, he had not had the chance to repair the damage he had suffered at the hands of the Xenos cult and the best he could manage was a pitiable wheeze of exhaust fumes as he collapsed into a slouch once more. Sighing inwardly Quadro sent the noospheric command for the door to open. The great skull clicked once before the entire door slid sideways with a thunderous grinding sound.

No matter how many times Quadro stepped over the threshold into his master’s sanctum, he was always awed by the enormous variety of works on display. Huge specimen tanks were suspended side by side with half-finished robotic constructs. Innumerable desks and benches were strewn haphazardly around, covered with all manner of esoteric texts and mechanisms.  In the middle of the room a large surgical slab was set up ready for the dissection of organic samples. Despite the massive size of the space, it always seemed cluttered as though its owner had accumulated too much knowledge and had allowed it to spill out into his personal domain.

The owner in question was currently occupied with a small console next to the main surgical space. Quadro could see the hunched form of Magos Peclaw leaning over the splayed cadaver of a small mammal; his mechadendrites extended as he carved apart the half frozen remains. With a hiss of internal pneumatics, the Magos rose up, fixing Quadro with the gaze of his four ocular implants. His mechadendrites withdrew, causing the tiny corpse to quiver as they retracted from their unfinished dissection. 

“Greetings Adept.” Magos Peclaw said in a spurt of noospheric binary.

“Honoured Magos.” Quadro replied, bowing as low as he was able and making the symbol of the cog with his metallic hands. “I have come to place myself before your judgement, my failures are self-evident and I await any sentence you deem fit.”

Several seconds passed before Magos Peclaw responded. “For an Adept of the Omnissiah, your lack of knowledge is most disturbing.” Quadro flinched at the layers of command code built into the Magos’ binaric speech; their harshness forcing him to bow lower.

“You do not seem to understand Quadro,” the Magos continued “so allow me to enlighten you. Your actions at facility 143 on Planktus Alpha caused the destruction of two cohorts of augmented Skitarii and thirteen of my own battle servitors. You are also responsible for the eventual loss of the entire facility to Xenos hybrids including all data, machinery and specimens housed within. Finally, and most critically, you lost two irreplaceable Cybernetica Kastelans which had been placed in your care by the great Kelbor Hal of holy Mars.” Magos Peclaw paused and his armoured hand curled around his staff of office. “Does this seem like an accurate summation to you?”

                Quadro remained bent over as oily tears rained from his iron face. “Yes Magos, you have provided a complete and accurate inventory of my crimes.” He said.

                “It is neither complete nor accurate!” Magos Peclaw shrieked in anguished binary. “The loss of that facility has ruined my standing within the Adeptus Mechanicus itself. There are powerful factions which have long desired to see me cast out of the Martian Brotherhood in shame and you have handed them the perfect excuse.” The Magos advanced on Quadro, rearing up above his cowering subject. “Your foolishness has forced me to take actions that I have long sought to avoid Quadro. I have liquidated the vast majority of my holdings and assets; selling them where I could, destroying them where I could not. Every scrap of knowledge I could salvage has been brought aboard this ship, as of now, it is the only thing in this galaxy which remains to me. Do you now understand what you have cost me?”

                The moment stretched out as Quadro continued to weep precious lubricant onto the deck. Slowly, he straightened, determined to face his end with honour. “My Lord, I can only offer my life; I humbly ask that you take it as recompense for my failings. Have me disassembled and my components re-used however you see fit.”

                Magos Peclaw reared up to his full height, his augmented body making him almost twice as tall as Quadro. His mechadendrites extended around him in a shimmering metallic halo as he drew his enormous Omnissian axe. “Kneel Quadro.” He commanded.

                Quadro sank to the deck, his knees hitting it with a loud clang. He looked up at his master through a film of oily tears.

                “Know this, Adept,” Magos Peclaw continued “Your body is mine to command and mine to destroy. The motive force within you is sworn to my ends and for your failings; you have earned a singular punishment.”

                Quadro’s vision dimmed as he waited for the axe to fall, agonisingly the seconds stretched out as he gazed at the righteous form poised to strike him down.

                Then suddenly, the moment passed, Magos Peclaw withdrew his mechadendrites and dropped down to his normal height. He slung his axe and looked sidelong at Quadro. In a less augmented being, the expression would have been called quizzical.

                “Master?” Quadro’s noospheric aura exploded with questions “Why have you spared me?”

                Magos Peclaw exhaled a peculiarly biological sigh. “Have I not explained to you Quadro? I have precious few assets remaining to me, what logical good would it do to destroy one more, especially a skilled Adept like you. No, your punishment will be to share my fate in exile; we shall turn our backs on the Mechanicus and strive to make our own discoveries like the Magos’ of old.”

                Quadro struggled from his knees as he replied “Master, you don’t mean-“

                “Yes Quadro, “ Magos Peclaw interrupted “we will undertake the Geas Mechanicus. Prepare yourself, for the Pilgrimage.”

                Quadro’s shaken mind could only conjure more questions. “Where will we go, Magos?”

                With a wave of his hand, Magos Peclaw called a shimmering hololithic to life. Even through the haze of static, Quadro could make out the peculiar violet hue of a planet orbited by a single moon.

                “This is Phi-Delta-Three-Sixty-Two,” Peclaw stated “it falls within the Charadon system and is known to Imperial records as Daedalus. It is to this place that we will make our Pilgrimage.”

                Quadro pointed at the hololith, more questions coming to his mind. “Why here?”

                Magos Peclaw emitted a series of strange barking sounds from his external speakers. It took Quadro a moment to realise that the Magos was laughing.

                “So many questions Adept, I was right to have spared you.” The Magos wheezed between mechanical chuckles. “The Quest for Knowledge must begin with two things and curiosity is the first of them.” Peclaw closed down the hololith and turned away from his subordinate.

                “What is the second master?” Quadro asked.

                Magos Peclaw looked back over his armoured shoulder at Quadro. “Faith. We will both need faith to complete this journey; faith in the Omnissiah and the Motive Force itself. Prepare well Quadro; we will be tested beyond imagining in the days to come.”