Gunnac Umbercaller's Story

Gunnac fully formed a riotous spark dulling from the translocation along his back and cloak moving to his volition. Cloak an extension of his technical prowess girded a huge red crystal adorned with faint inscriptions of machinist ideals. Inside a voice chanting honors to the Imperium crossed with encyclopedic knowledge from the faceless mouth of his armor's servitor. Among endless stacks of imperial knowledge a metalbound machine spirit in service to ideals of the Omnissiah. By Dicta the Jinhai could not believe but in the service of a humankind they certainly could create one that did. There was even one intelligence they knew that such a creature could be linked to.

~~~

The faceless red-robed body of ritualistic cog and electronics read of the techmarine's own knowledge referencing a crystal labyrinth. It had an attendance on the powers of change some the sacred mechanics and others it hadn't yet considered long. A toroid librarium of tools and books the metal feet standing perpendicular to the surface very ignorant of gravity. The notion of external time a thing that ticked so very slowly as the Techmarine completed transition. It tapped an image of Tzeentch from a book floating among the stacks, the chaos god of knowledge.

Turning gears and knobs along the support pillar the movement of the machine imparted knowledge by its changes. This place seemed not of their own by the subtleties and redundant parts that engaged and it turned to inspect a whirring obelisk of dials and metronomes at the center of the toroid in a vast workshop full of turrets, weapons, and tools varied. An inner dias which housed a swirling red brass mechanism clacking and chiming to tune along inspired by the Omnissiah's own inscrutable design by one finding its nature compatible. The servitor carefully divined the right mechanism assembling in the adapting machine to represent their location. A metaplanar Orrey attuned to Myrkul's own form of Astronomican that still needed a careful eye to its unguent and rituals.

The tattered red cape shot and careened at surfaces as the servitor tasted crystal maze around it to turn gears and align the Orrey. Gears of the squriming gear sections and riotous cams squeaked and ground finding heresy in the the place they were in. The faceless metal skeleton stood to contemplate a thrumming deep within as here were hymns of the Emperor here. Archaic to the library but here still new. They were in the past or perhaps in a world slightly not their own running just behind? Another eternal enemy, another eternal God-Emperor, another Omnissiah. It bore out further study. Should such a thing be true could the emperor's servants hear the second beacon? Hm. Sacred work to do still and barely a few seconds had passed. The techmarine should be cognizant by now at least.

~~~

The Servitor's voice lifted angry speech taken from Gunnac's memories of unguent-oiled gunmetal just ahead the warcries of men, "Here lies the Chaos demon of knowledge, Sempiturnus Techmarine. Step in careful time with the Omnisiiah's instruments for the Emperor's rightful wrath. Enemies be upon you here. This place may not be where the Living Emperor of Mankind resides."

The techmarine stood red eyes raising his sword to the ready as the tight ferroplasm and plasteel weave shift under his plating, "One of your eternal enemy, Chaos God, the Emperor of Mankind. One that took an oath to turn the warp to dust wherever it be found."

Myrkul spoke into the techmarine's mind a placid monotone voice as the overbeing reevaluated stratagem, "Techmarine. Change of objectives. We feel the anchor of the humankind can be moved out of range to return her to Terra. New goal: Reconnaissance - hold position as long as possible. Servitor: narrow planespace location then attempt warpspace location probability matrix for future reinforcements. Evacuate if planespace location is achieved and position untenable."

~~~

The other Jinhai binding the focus of change in the area completed his psistone wrapper and picked it up with the salad tongs. Myrkul quietly directed it to return the book to Genesis for analysis by the Living Emperor. Whatever it was, to be of a Chaos God made it a thing of danger to remove from this city. Even if it did not have a developed presence of servitors in the location. The spark-eyed Jinhai padded out Catherine's home, locking the door behind it, proceeding down the street to the nearest point the cacophony of minds in this city was low enough to psychoport away.

Another in the city heard Otto be driven back to Genesis as well as the call to serve. Gunnac had been occupied getting a transport column of imperial guard to Genesis but now freed from his task loaded from his small munitorum. As the call went out from the God-Emperor to the Primaris so too did Gunnac respond. A quiet four-spark servitor scouted his destination when the Techmarine looked through its eyes to put himself to the field.

The floor vibrated as a psychoportation pounded the massive techmarine in front of the Commissar the artificer armor melded with a beast of transfiguration. Imperial eagle across his back and symbol of the Doom Eagles on each shoulder. That the Jinhai heard Jurgen so too did Gunnac know what had been said and turned slightly to look behind him. The force-sword inceptor sloughed from the arm ferroplasm erupting upward the heavy blade sprouting its gleaming sharp edges. A flat red crystal on his back that poured out a drifting clothlike solidity for a cloak tore strips of itself to point at the Commissar and Jurgen.

"Through the servitors I am told you need better weapons. So by the Emperor's will I do so grant these artifacts to you," said the faceless techmarine.

Two strange rifles with huge bores emerged stock-first squeezing from nothing as if the inside of the cloth were larger. Well used but well kept the prototypes were not yet adorned with gold in in their final forms. They bore but a small temporary descriptor labeling their pattern a 'Tenant' pattern bolt carbine. Sized for the Imperial Guard the reflex sight included a ammo descriptor though its clip more a specialized bolt-round manifestation grid. That the scope said "GUNNAC 10 / ∞" reflected the semi-automatic rifle's proximity to Gunnac to provide metacreative energy. The size of the weapon by shock resistance to wielded by those lesser than the Primaris. It had not the accuracy of ones wielded by their primaris counterparts but most of the power. Though its limitation in the graviton moment engine at its center as for an instant when firing it increased the mass of the gun and thus arresting recoil. It would not be moved easily when fired but high settings diminished its reloading rate. Metal composing most of its superstructure shaded cadet blue as Gunnac found ferroplasm suitable to take the force of sudden mass. The weapon's outer layer and remaining substance protected by ceramite.

Gunnac described the weapon quickly for Cain and Jurgen, "The graviton moment engine will allow the machine spirit to prevent your self-destruction by recoil. Set it high and trust the machine spirit to instruct."

Josephus' Lance was a study craft, even amongst his own kind, and the Iron Lord piloting it was no fresh-faced neophyte, or stumbling Guardsmen. As soon as the Shards opened fire it banked left, assuming an almost fully horizontal position, and responded with immediate, and extreme prejudice. All four twin-linked Heavy Bolters roared again, spraying indiscriminately towards the Shards, as their filthy, heretech sonic weaponry tore at the hull. Several sections felt the sting, namely the underslung Bolters, both of which were rent, and rendered inoperable almost as fast as they had began to fire. The glass of the cockpit shattered as well, forcing the pilot to level out, and battle new drag. It only served to piss him off however, and with a flick of two switches the dorsal mounted Turbo-Laser Destructor unleashed absolute hell, two more Hellstrikes in toe, towards the one that begin to shift, and charge. The pilot wasn't about to have any boarding, or grapple nonsense, and barrel-rolled as soon as his violent payload had been let loose, a rapid ascent following in its wake.

The ground-bound Marines found themselves in a rather similar position as Alpha advanced. The Veteran Sergeant was a little dismayed as the heretical machine sliced clean through a hellstrike missle, and downright dumbfounded when somehow, by seemingly sorcerery, it didn't explode until after the infernal machine was in front of it. When the second missle simply went haywire, thankfully streaming directly towards one of the airborne Shards, he came to the conclusion that their enemy had some form of control over machinery. In his mind likely a Heretech Sorcerer, or twisted machination of the Dark Mechanicum. Either way he wasn't stupid enough, or brash enough to fall for the contraptions obvious goading.

Instead he, and his men formed their ranks, each Heavy Bolter spewing a near-endless, but deliberately aimed cascade of Kraken Rounds. They moved with silent focus, each man of the rear-line firing over the front-line's shoulders, including the Havoc. The mixed volley of holy Imperial death was well-trained on the center of Alpha's electromagnetic force field in the hope of hammering a crack in to it. In the end it didn't matter though, their main goal was to ensure Cain's successful evacuation. Destroying this aggressive hunk of heretical trash would merely be a bonus.

Just behind the current fray came the rest of the reinforcements from Gonthar as well. Four Assault Valkyrie's, all armed to teeth, had been deployed just behind the replacement Thunderhawk. Though trailing, they pushed it double time, and the distance they lagged behind was, in the end, a boon from the Emperor Himself. It positioned them just barely in Heavy Bolter range of the second PNC deployment, and without hesitation each Valkyrie began a break-neck strafing run to try and decapitate the pincer in its tracks.

Carmen Dellevon was still holding Linus's hand as she made her way towards the spaceport. The two didn't look out of place in the bustling city, thank goodness.