Iron Hearts: Book 3
Epilogue
****
Ferrous Dominus - Solon's forge
Solon slowly wheeled up to a smelting pot, his chassis carried on a massive, reinforced gurney.
The glorified push-cart wasn't that hard to manage with his remaining three legs, but it was, obviously, highly visible. The Warsmith was pretty sure some of the Dark Techpriests were disguising their snickering as binary chatter as he had wheeled past them through the manufactorum.
Still, the legs were an embarrassment, but his decapitation was a handicap. Gaela's repair job had essentially fixed his helmet in place on his neck, which was more than a little inconvenient.
First job: a new neck assembly. Which wasn't hard to build, but actually cutting apart his current one and replacing it would be a pain, to say the least. Second job: three new legs. Third job: armor repair. Fourth job: new mechatendrils. And then his hololith projectors, and his heavy bolters, and his void shield assembly...
Solon sighed as he worked at the screens in front of him. The end result hadn't been all that bad, all things considered. Delgan had gotten through the fight with nary a scratch, and Gaela treated her loss of both arms with the same stolid indifference that most soldiers experienced when ditching a damaged helmet. Tolken had returned the Shadow generator mostly intact, and he had even mumbled something about ponies having their uses. And the Lamman Sept had abandoned many useful machines and stores of supplies in their haste to flee the city.
But it was absolutely mortifying to Solon personally that he had been shot and sliced apart in front of a group of ponies. Ponies that had subsequently disabled and restrained the enemy leader with ease.
"Pshykersh," Solon grumbled as jets of steam blasted up from the smelting pot.
An incoming vox link. Tellis.
Solon terminated the vox link before letting it connect. Even so, he swore he could somehow STILL hear the Raptor laughing hard enough to sunder his helmet.
Another incoming vox link. Not Tellis. He connected.
"Warsmith? This is Pterax again. I wish to report that Centaur III and its moon have returned to their previous stable orbits and rotations."
Solon tried to nod out of reflex, but his head didn't budge. "Good, good. It sheemsh the Dark Acolyte wash correct, then."
"Indeed. Also... we're picking up another Warp signal. One of those beacons that you say are used by the Ork fleets."
Solon would have jolted his head up in surprise, but couldn't. "Another one? I don't undershtand. There ishn't shupposhed to be any Ork activity in thish region. At leasht not according to the Tau. And thish ish their shector."
"That's the thing, Warsmith. I don't think the signals are coming from the Orks," Pterax mumbled, "this new signal is coming from here. Centaur III."
And then, suddenly, Solon understood.
"Thoshe clever little bashtardsh," the Warsmith mumbled.
"My lord?"
"Pardon me, Pterax. I need to get in contact with Magosh Kaelith. He hash a meshage I need him to deliver."
****
Black Point - communications center
*You can't be serious,* Wraithstar growled, *you can't! There are hundreds of men here! Tau! Kroot! Humans! You can't seriously be leaving us all here to die! That wasn't part of the mission!*
*Actually, that WAS part of the mission, in order-*
The Shas'el cut off the voice on the other end of the communicator. *WAS! In the past! Back when I had a comms scrambler, a hangar full of transports, and a full barracks!* he screamed into the monitor in front of him. *If you pull the fleet out of the system, you're sentencing every one of us to die here along with the rest of the planet!*
*There's nothing we can do, Shas'el!* barked the voice from the speaker. *There's no way the enemy fleet wouldn't detect us trying to evacuate Black Point! After that, they merely need to choose their favorite method of stopping the evacuation and killing you all anyway!*
*Then send an army! The gue'la have been plenty meek about assaulting this base so far! We HAVE the strength to stop them! Don't tell me that you're AFRAID of these blasted cultists!*
There was a long pause. Too long.
*You are,* Wraithstar accused, his voice low and angry, *you're afraid of them. You outnumber and outgun the blasted apes entirely, but you're terrified to even approach this planet again.*
*The defeat at Canterlot was... severe, Shas'el,* the other voice was getting weaker, shuddering, and taking deep breaths, *very few transports made it back. Shas'o Voidsong and her retinue... were not among them.*
That news was quite sobering, but Wraithstar's anger wasn't so easily quelled. *So you've sentenced us to her fate. Out of cowardice.*
*We can afford no further losses to the gue'la. We barely completed our mission. Your orders are to stay and defend the Warp beacon for as long as you can.*
A furious growl was the most coherent noise Wraithstar could make at that point, so he went ahead and growled furiously.
*This is your last, and greatest, duty to the Greater Good, and your final sacrifice for the Tau Empire. I'm sorry, Shas'el Wraithstar. Goodbye.* The communications link went dead.
The Tau Commander screamed incoherently, and then ripped his monitor from the desk and flung it against the wall.
He doubted he'd need it again anyway.
****
Canterlot Castle - royal plaza
"WEEEEEEEE ARRRRRE THE CHAAAAMMMMPIONNNNNS!! WEEEEEEEE ARRRRRE THE CHAAAAMMMMPIONNNNNS!! NOOOO ROOM FOR LOOOOSERSSSS, 'CUZ WEEEEEEEE ARRRRRE THE CHAAAAMMMMPIONNNNNS!!"
Around an enormous bonfire of burning debris, the voices of a hundred ponies mixed with the voices of a hundred humans, and were then drowned out by the booming howl of a pair of dreadnoughts. Each of the insane war walkers were stomping around the bonfire with groups of ponies sitting on top of them, and the equines lurched from side to side and laughed with every heavy step.
Pinkie Pie led the festivities, of course, a bullhorn at her lips as she led the singing from atop an unusually sedate defiler. Fluttershy rested in the back of the daemon engine, finding comfort in the warmth of its seething generators as well as the wide berth every human and pony gave the possessed machine.
"'CUZ WEEEEEEEE ARRRRRE THE CHAAAAMMMMPIONNNNNS... OF THE WORRRRRRRLD!!"
All around the bonfire, humans would occasionally walk up dragging chunks of flammable debris from the city to keep the flames burning, while ponies that arrived to the festivities usually brought snacks or drinks, and were greeted heartily for it.
As the celebrations carried on long into the night, however, there were ponies with plenty of reservations about the battle that had taken place earlier that evening.
Princess Celestia was one of those ponies. She watched the revelry from her balcony atop the castle, and as much as it lifted her heart to see her subjects laughing and cheering in the aftermath of the devastation they had witnessed, her eyes kept rising to the smoldering city beyond the bonfire.
Her capital was shattered. Buildings were gutted, towers were burned, and the bloody remains of a hundred different violent conflicts were scattered around the buildings like litter. It left an ache in her stomach that was hardly mollified by the singing below, and it was merely the most immediately visible aspect of what was wrong with Canterlot tonight. In the darkness, fluttering among the pillars of smoke, were giant black standards that had been mounted atop buildings without sanction or warning. Standards bearing a grinning silver skull.
"Sister, thou art up very late."
Celestia didn't turn around as Luna joined her on the balcony.
"We realize that the affairs of state are in disarray at the moment, but thou hast had an especially trying day. None would think less of thee for seeing to thy rest."
Celestia's wings ruffled. "I don't think I could sleep even if I wanted to."
Luna frowned, stepping up to the edge of the balcony with the larger alicorn. She glanced at her sister's tight, anxious frown, and then down at the diverse crowd below.
"Thou hates them still?" Luna asked, her voice free of judgment or reproach. "The humans?"
Celestia shook her head. "No, Luna. I don't hate them. I fear them."
Luna raised an eyebrow.
Celestia looked upwards, toward the night sky. "I fear the things that swim the vast ocean between the stars. They have knowledge beyond our comprehension, tools beyond our imagining, numbers beyond our counting, and power beyond our greatest feats of magic." Her head dropped once more to the celebration below. "All I want is to protect my little ponies. To keep our kingdom safe from those beyond the void that would swallow them up without a thought. But I can't."
Celestia took a deep breath before she turned her head toward her sister. "We were so helpless, Luna. One machine. One little machine from a race that had only learned of our existence weeks ago, and just like that our power was gone. Our capital was occupied and overrun in minutes, all from complete secrecy. And for what? Some mysterious goal that has nothing even to do with us. We were an afterthought, Luna."
The younger Princess snorted. "'Tis true, and the grays paid the price for their dismissal. It may hath been the humans that ousted the fiends, but it was thine Elements of Harmony that led them here before the invaders were ready."
Celestia was not comforted. "Yes. The Tau were bad. But the humans..." she clenched her teeth. "You saw, Luna. You saw that... thing that calls itself their leader." Her blood felt cold as she recalled the sight of an insectoid leg ripping free of Solon's metal shell. "What IS Solon? Was he... Was he human once, like the men down there? I know more than I would ever want about Chaos, but can it really turn a man into... that?" Celestia gulped. "Or, for that matter, what about a pony?"
Luna thought it over as she too recalled the moments in which Solon's more "supernatural" aspects were on full display, albeit with far less drama than her older sister.
"If We art honest, We find it difficult to take the Warsmith so seriously. Between his absurd slur, disastrous duel, and the utter disrespect he is afforded by his subordinates, We rather feel sorry for him."
"You PITY that thing?" Celestia asked, stunned. "He's a monster in charge of his own space army! And if I might say, he fared plenty well against a room full of enemies that I would not dare to send our royal guard against!"
Luna nodded calmly. "We art the Princess of the Night, Sister. Dreams are part of our duties, and We hast faced many a nightmare." She trailed off, meeting her sister's eyes. "'Tis not often We meet a nightmare with a soul. The Warsmith... fascinates us. We too wonder how much of him is man, machine, or infernal beast."
Another pause.
"Besides, if thou art concerned about the physical evidence of Chaos corruption, We found the Acolyte's performance far more unsettling," Luna grimaced, looking away from the other Princess.
Celestia visibly shivered, her fur bristling along her neck. "On that point, at least, we're in full agreement."
"Princess! There you are!"
The royal sisters let the grim tension of their conversation fade as they turned toward Twilight Sparkle, who was walking up to the balcony with Kibitz and Spike in tow.
"We've finished going over the preliminary damage reports with the human captains," Twilight reported, several checklists floating behind her in the air while Spike carried several more, "also, we found all the spots where Sliver used his Viral Scourge, and purged those areas with flame as recommended."
"Very good idea, that," Kibitz noted, "you should have seen the state of the trees that had been infected. Burning them felt like an act of mercy more than gardening or sanitation."
Twilight laughed awkwardly as she noticed that Celestia's expression was already souring. "Yes! Well! Speaking of fire, the castle gardens are mostly ashes now, forty-seven statues or other pieces of stonework are damaged beyond any possibility of repair, nine doors need repairs or replacing, seventeen of the windows that didn't detail historic battles between good and evil need to be fixed, the main guard barracks was destroyed by Fluttershy's defiler, and most of the sewer system behind the castle was caved in with explosives. And then, of course, there's the throne room, which had every window broken, a lot of the flooring damaged, and the throne smashed. That covers the most major damage on the royal grounds."
"What of the marks of Chaos that now desecrate the throne room on the floor and ceiling, thus polluting our very seat of power with their blighted energies?" Luna asked with a grimace.
"Oh, they're not very deep. A little spackle here and there and you won't even be able to tell," Kibitz insisted.
Celestia nodded solemnly. "I see. And what of my citizens? How many of my little ponies will never see the light of my sun once more?"
Kibitz blinked. "What? Oh! No, nopony died! A lot of humans did, of course, and we have quite a few injuries among the citizens, but as far as we know there were no pony deaths."
Celestia blinked. Twice. Then she tilted her head to one side. "Really?"
"Yeah. It's... actually getting a little suspicious at this point," Twilight mumbled, pursing her lips. She certainly wasn't upset at a lack of casualties, but she was disturbed at the blatant subversion of statistic probability.
"Oh, but some of the injuries ARE quite severe!" Kibitz noted. "Why, before the night is out some ponies may lose their legs! They'll never walk again!"
In the hall behind Kibitz, Big Macintosh passed by the open doorway while hauling a large, heavy cart full of corpses behind him. Luna arched an eyebrow at seeing the battered power armor worn by the stallion, noting that the damaged sections exposed his augmetics.
"So it's no laughing matter!" Kibitz finished sadly, his mustache wiggling back and forth.
"Yes, of course. I am... pleased we escaped the assault so lightly," Princess Celestia mumbled, looking away.
Twilight's ears fell flat against her head. "Uh, Princess? You... well... don't LOOK pleased."
Celestia sighed as she watched the clusters of gleaming armor patrol the city below, some of them dragging along captured foes or dead bodies.
"I can't help but wonder, Twilight: was this battle worth it? The Tau were going to leave our city unharmed once they completed their secret mission. Was this result better?"
Twilight and Luna both recoiled.
"Princess! You mean that after all they did, you would have trusted them to leave everypony unharmed?" Twilight asked. She certainly hoped that wasn't the case, given that she was the one who had alerted the 38th Company to the threat.
"To be sure, such an option is inconceivable to us," Luna bristled, "to submit to the enemy's deceit and aggression in order to avoid conflict is unacceptable!"
Celestia hesitated, and then nodded sadly. "Yes. You're right. But I can't help wishing there was another way."
Luna's expression softened, and she reached her head over to nuzzle her sister's neck. "Of course. There art no folly in hope or the earnest pursuit of peace. But rather than expend such sentiment on moments past, t'would be best to look to the future."
"Does anypony know why there's a giant, black, centipede-person in the castle?" Spike asked, facing the castle hall.
The question startled the Princesses out of their tender moment, and the three alicorns glanced back toward the door.
Kaelith was standing in front of the doorway, his body bent over a pair of nervous-looking pegasi guards.
Twilight immediately recognized the distinctive black rubber robe of the 38th Company's Dark Mechanicus, although she didn't recall seeing this particular individual before.
"Excuse me!" she called as she trotted over. "Is there a problem, Mister...?"
Dark Magos Kaelith turned toward Twilight, and his sensors took note of the alicorns.
"Identification: Dark Magos Kaelith. Explanatory: I am to update you as to Tau Empire activity in the Centaur system."
Kaelith stalked past the pony guards, ignoring their indignant shouts as he straightened his body to tower over the Equestrians. He was quite annoyed at being used to transmit a simple message when there was a great deal of supplies and salvage he should be sorting through, but he tamped down his frustration and resolved to complete his given task.
"It's all right," Twilight assured the guards before nodding to the Dark Magos, "please, go ahead."
"Begin debriefing: the Tau fleet is on course to depart the Centaur system and is accelerating to relativistic speed."
Twilight nodded, while the other two Princesses glanced at each other while shrugging.
"Then we did it! We won!" Twilight said with a grin. "I knew Voidsong was wrong!"
"Negative," Kaelith said harshly, causing the purple pony to recoil, "Explanatory: the Tau successfully transported the Warp core to their military outpost despite considerable opposition, taking advantage of our reduced patrols. They have completed and activated the device that was central to their mission here, and have ceased active combat operations in-system as a result."
Twilight gaped, her eyes wide. "But... That... We..."
Luna interrupted the younger Princess's stammering. "So have thee finally some inkling as to what this accursed device does?"
"Affirmative. Explanatory: the device is a Warp-space beacon. Expansion: the particular nature of the beacon is such that it provides guidance to the passage of local-sector Ork fleets in particular."
Twilight was lost at this point, but Kaelith didn't pause for any questions before several hololith projectors poked out of the folds of his robes.
"Display: the sections of the Ultima Segmentum which comprise the region considered 'Tau space'."
The hololith flickered into view, displaying numerous stars and nebulae in a large box. Twilight immediately leaned forward, her ears perking up.
"Notation: Centaur system."
A red box appeared and boxed in a particular star at the edge of a sparse arc of stars on the edge of the projection.
"Notation: Tyranid Hive Fleet Eumenides." A patch of the galactic view was flooded with red, such that it looked like a coil of tendrils were drilling through the void between star systems. "Expansion: a collection of massive bio-vessels containing armies of extremely destructive predator-soldiers."
Another red area appeared in the hololith, this time manifesting as a large red circle.
"Notation: unnamed Ork warfleet, threat rating six. Expansion: a massive congregation of alien armies driving a path through populated systems seeking enemies to conquer."
Twilight frowned. The two red spots weren't anywhere near each other, nor were they anywhere near the Centaur system. "Okay... so, what does this have to do with us?"
"Explanatory: each of these alien forces are moving deep into Tau space, and destroying their new colonies. Both are of a scale that makes stopping either of them difficult, and can only be done at a severe cost to the Empire's army. Together, they represent an existential threat to the integrity of the Tau's supremacy in this region of space."
The Dark Magos paused. "Extrapolation: in facing two nearly unstoppable forces, the Lamman Sept considered the simple stratagem of letting Tyranid and Ork fight each other, and then destroying the victor. To this end, they have designed and placed several Warp beacons along a string of uncolonized worlds to lead the Ork warfleet on an expedited path directly into the Tyranid hive fleet. Notation: Warp beacon system placement."
Several new green lights appeared over the stars on the edge of the hololith, and Twilight felt a distinct tightness in her chest as one of them flickered into place over the Centaur system. Their system.
"Notation: Ork warfleet route, confirmed and estimated."
New markers appeared on the hololith, some of them representing splinter engagements and major battles that had been gleaned from Tau records, but the Equestrians were most obviously concerned with the arrows that strung together the Warp beacons carefully arranged throughout space.
Arrows that reached the Centaur system, and then continued beyond it.
"Conclusive," Kaelith stated flatly to the stunned Princesses, "within seven hundred hours, the main body of the Ork fleet will arrive in the Centaur system, seeking opposition. Estimations of Ork army strength are notoriously unreliable, but it was last rated at approximately nine-point-seven billion individuals. And rising."
Spike's mouth started to mouth the word "billion", but no sound came out except a slight wheezing.
"Expansion: this planet will be overrun, and once the Orks have destroyed or enslaved everything on it, they will proceed to move on as per the Tau stratagem. Your world is doomed."
Kaelith's lower body turned on the spot and started to move away, even as the emerald lights of his optical sensors remained fixed on the gaping Princesses.
"Recommendation: enjoy the local festivities. Your extinction is nigh."