//------------------------------// // Battle and Beds // Story: Steely Hearts // by nothing_to_see_here //------------------------------// Ferrous Dominus - Solon’s Forge Solon busied himself with various projects and curiosities while he waited for data from the scouting parties to compile to be reviewed by himself and the senior staff. Then his door was knocked out of its frame. Solon sighed as Steely flew into the room after turning off her augments. “What do you want Msh. Lathe. I have precioush little time right now.” “Repairs? I need one of my legs looked at and my armor patched. Daemon in the temple really did a number on it.” “A daemon? What kind?” “Uh…. kinda human sized? Maybe a bit bigger? Had a sword and some horns?” “A bloodletter?” “....I think?” “Hm. Well I shupposhe that that would be shufficient to damage your augmentsh and armor…” The Warsmith’s voice trailed off as he put a hand to his chin in consideration before continuing, “Very well Msh. Lathe, I’ll repair them thish time, but after thish you musht find shomeone elshe to repair them.” “Ok, fair enough I guess. Who should I take anything to?” “Just go bother the Mechanicush inshtead of me.” “So do I just...” “Do you have shomeone who can read shchematicsh?.” “Well I think I know somepony who can do it…” Ferrous Dominus - Sector 4 Dark Mechanicus Temple Secundus - 3 hours later “Yes! Gear Works! G. E. A. R. W. O. R. K. S. Gear Works! Do you understand you stupid toaster?! I need to see a pony named GEAR WORKS!” Steely yelled while hovering in the face of one of the servitors at the door. The servitor continued to ignore her. Steely groaned as she moved away from the servitor’s face and landed to begin pacing back and forth in front of the door to the temple. Her movement tracked by the turrets mounted on the building. ‘This is getting on my nerves. I’ve been out here for… what? A couple hours? Still can’t get in… maybe… if I ‘knock’ on the door.’ Steely then took off and backed up a few feet, enough so that she could gain some speed and that the guns would stop tracking her movements. Then she activated her augments and flew forward as fast as she could. The reinforced entrance to the temple then flew open as an Acolyte ran out and stood in front of the entrance with arms crossed.  Steely took a steep turn upward in attempt to avoid hitting the Acolyte and get rid of the speed she’d build up for her attempt to batter down the door. When she looped in the air and began a dive back towards the ground, the acolyte took a few steps back in preparation for Steely’s impact. With a loud crack and a cloud of dust and  rockcrete chips, Steely impacted the ground and immediately took off again to begin hovering in the face of the Acolyte. “I am Acolyte Sheraan of the Dark Mechanicus. May I ask what you were planning on doing?” The Acolyte asked in as much of an annoyed tone as could be managed with a voxcaster instead of a voicebox. “Yeah. Was planning to break the door down and find somepony I’m looking for in there. Your stupid toaster over there wasn’t listening.” Steely replied, bringing her muzzle inches away from Sheraan’s hooded face. “You do realize that the servitors only guard the temple and eliminate intruders, yes? It has neither the ability nor capacity to understand you and grant entrance.” “Well…. You should put up a sign or something saying that.” “Before now, no one has been idiotic enough to attempt to converse with a servitor; Well, except for perhaps a few of the more intoxicated mercenaries.” “So are you going to ask why I’m here or should I just tell you?” Steely said as she backed off from the hooded Acolyte. “I do not care why you are here, equine. I only exited the temple to prevent you from attempting to batter down our door.” “Look, I just need some repair work done and I’m only gonna trust one pony to do it. You got a pony named Gear Works in there, right?” “You are acquainted with the aspirant?” “I… may have broken his jaw and cracked his metal eye thing... “ “....Go on.” “Well see, I got these augments from the Warsmith and…” One of Sheraan’s mechadendrites shot out from beneath his robe and seized Steely’s right augment and brought it up to his eye level for examination. “Interesting that the Warsmith would see fit to bestow upon you such advance augmentations, but then I suppose both he and others of the company have come to have a strange fixation upon you equines.” “Hey! Let me go you scrapheap!” Steely said as she attempted to pull her hoof from the acolytes iron grip. “Hmmm, yes. I can see that there is indeed some damage to the augment. Nothing too serious, but if left unattended it could cause severe failure. Very well, I will have the aspirant tend to your augments tomorrow.” Sheraan said as he released Steely’s leg, Steely retreating a good distance to prevent anymore grapples. “Nonononono. No. He fixes my leg tonight! I’m not waiting till morning! I have briefing in the morning.” An idea crossed Sheraan’s mind. “Well I suppose that you could have the Aspirant repair the augments tonight, however I believe that he has already retired to his dormitory for the evening.” “Well just show me to his room then, I don’t care.” “I cannot, as that would require taking you deep within the temple, far past where any outsider is allowed.” “So what should I do then? Just wait for you to go get him?” “I am not your errand boy equine. If you want the Aspirant to repair your augments tonight, you’ll have to see him in his dormitory along the east wall of the building to the right of the red coolant pipes.” “Is there a door there?” “No.” “Window?” “No.” “So how am I supposed to get in! I don’t have all night scraphead!” Sheraan sighed as he brought his hand up to his face. Silently cursing this equine’s stupidity before finally spelling it out for her. “There isn’t a door, but you can make one.” “With what?” “......” “......” “Alright, dumb question. But are you really okay with me making a hole in your precious temple?” “Oh yes, completely fine with you making a hole in that specific spot. Actually let me just show you exactly where to hit the wall. Come.” Sheraan said as he began to walk down the road towards where the Mechanicus temple ended and another structure began. Dark Mechanicus Temple Secundus Dormitory - Aspirant Gear Works Dorm Gear Works breathed a sigh of relief as he sprawled out on the ‘bed’ in his dorm, looking over happily at this recently reacquired buffalo cleric figure. He did have to be thankful that he still had that thanks to Dusk Blade sacrificing his own buffalo shaman. The lieutenant wasn’t the best of friends, actually he wasn’t even a decent friend to have. But sacrificing your own model for someone else’s had to mean something, didn’t it? Those things cost so much you’d be crazy to just give it up so easily. Ferrous Dominus - Sector 20 - NightWatch Barracks Private Full Crescent of the Lunar guard rummaged through his footlocker, trying to find his buffalo shaman figurine for O&O night with his squad, but couldn’t seem to find the small figure among his other personal effects. ‘I know I left it in here. Where’d it go? Hm. Maybe I’ll ask Dusk Blade, he borrowed my painting kit from here the other day, maybe it was in there?’ Full Crescent grabbed his papers off his bunk and shut his footlocker with a sigh, he’d just have to play using a bit for his character tonight or something. Ferrous Dominus - Aspirant Gear Work’s dorm Then Gear Works Wall imploded and rained rather large chunks of rockcrete onto him, crushing his left foreleg and barely missing his head. All Gear Works could do was sit in silence and stare at the bloodied piece of rockcrete occupying the space his leg once had been in. “Wooooo! That was actually a lot of fun! I gotta do this more often!” Steely yelled as she flew into the room, followed by Sheraan. “I would prefer if you didn’t, repairing walls in this fortress is a rather time consuming activity.” “Whatever. Hey Gear Works how you doing? Remember me? I broke your jaw a few days ago!” Steely shouted, oblivious to the obvious shock that Gear Works was in having his leg trapped and bleeding beneath a large chunk of rockcrete. “Oh, ouch. Want me to get that for you?” Steely said as she activated her augments and brought both hooves over her head, preparing the bring them down on the rockcrete. “NONONONO! WAIT!” Gear Works said, snapping out of his shock as Steely brought her hooves down on the chunk, obliterating it and further pulverizing Gear Works leg beneath it. “Owwwwwww.” Was all Gear Works could manage after the blow, his voice low and weak. “There we go. So listen, I need you to repair my legs right now so I can be ready for a briefing tomorrow.” “Yes Aspirant, this Reaver is in need of minor repairs to her augmetics, it should not take any more than ten minutes, after which I’ll likely need to get you a new leg so that you may then fix the wall. Maybe not in that order.” “Ok, just-just come over here and put it in front of me so I don’t have to move please.” “Alright” Steely flew over to place her damaged leg in front of Gear Works, who began to scan it and brought his own augments forward to begin repairs. “Just wanted to also drop by and say sorry for breaking your jaw the other day, I just was having a reallly stressful time and honestly it’s all kinda hazy now anyway. Also sorry for calling you an idiot and everything in the chaos temple, the chairs were just uncomfortable and it really wore me down.” “Right-Right, no big deal.” Gear Works said as he focused on his work and not the pain in his now mangled leg. “So how about after my first deployment we get some cake and celebrate a bit, eh? The bakery in sector six is going to be having a special on bundt cake in a few days and I haven’t had bundt cake in forever.” “I suppose as long as I can get permission from-” “You may get cake, Aspirant, so long as you make up for lost time and improve your work quality.” “Of Course, Acolyte.” The three lapsed into silence as the repairs continued. Steely began to observe the small room as she waited. Then she noticed the small figure on the desk “Oh, cool! You play O&O? What is that? A buffalo druid?” Steely asked enthusiastically. “Buffalo cleric, actually, he’s got a medicine staff that cures poisons and curses.” “Nice, I always played a pegasus warrior, pretty basic but I always liked the the basic stuff, ranged combat just never did it for me in the game.” “Maybe we should play sometime, I have a few…. Friends, we could play with.” “Nah, if we play, we play with my friends, I think Tellis already plays, next time he’s around I’ll ask him, and Tharix probably could pick it up easily enough.” “Um. Alright then, your friends it is.” Gear Works didn’t want to imagine what a Iron Warrior like Tellis would do if he rolled a one as he finished up with the repairs on Steely’s leg. “There we are, all done and fit for combat.” “Sweet. So wait, that medicine stick your cleric has, it cures poisons and curses? Haven’t heard of anything like that in third edition.” “It’s… It’s not third edition.” “Three and a half then?” Steely said cautiously. “No. Not three and a half either.” Gear Works braced himself for the worst. Steely’s face adopted a neutral look as she sighed and flew behind Gear Works, seizing hold of his back right leg and planting her back legs on top of him “W-What are you doing.” Gear Works asked nervously Steely began to pull on Gear Works leg as hard as she could, and very soon her bones popping and flesh tearing as regular muscle gave way to augmented strength. Gear Works barely had time to yell before the leg was off and Steely began to hit him over the head with it. “FOURTH! EDITION! IS! AN! INSULT! TO! EVERY! PLAYER! IN! THE! WORLD!” Steely said, each word punctuated by a blow to Gear Works head… with his own limb. This was too much for Gear Works who then blacked out. Eventually Steely stopped assaulting the Aspirant with his own flesh and threw the leg on her back as she flew back out the hole in the wall. “Where are you going with that?” Sheraan asked the Khornate Reaver as she left “Gonna see if I can get some Kroot at the temple to kill each other for it.” “Very well.” Sheraan said as he turned back to the bleeding and brutalized Aspirant. “I suppose since one leg has been disintegrated and the other is soon to be food for xenos, I will need to requisition you new limbs. Which means I’ll have to interact with Carmed. You will pay for making me interact with Carmed, Aspirant.”   Ferrous Dominus - Sector 17 - briefing room General Gnoss looked over the battle plan that Lord Sliver had put together as he prepared to enter the briefing room to brief the next batch of troops on their part in the upcoming battle against the Orks. He paused near the entrance and looked to the guard standing by the door, “Which group is in there now?” Gnoss asked the guard. “Khornates and raptors, sir. Only five fatalities since we sealed them in there by what we can tell.” “Only five? Hm. Would’ve thought there’d be more by now.” “Well we may have put a couple of slaves in there with them, just to keep them occupied.” “Excellent work, soldier. Now then.” Gnoss said as he opened the door to the stage where he would be delivering the brief from Gnoss came to center stage and looked at the crowd below him, the chairs that had been placed for the briefing had been scattered (along with the bloody remains of those five fatalities and the slaves that had been thrown to the bloodthirsty mob) and more than one was bent and damaged beyond all repair. Those who were supposed to be occupying the chairs, a mixture of humans, Kroot, and a handful of Raptors that were left in the company by this point, were all gathered around in a circle in the center of the room, chanting. “GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO!” Gnoss came to the edge of the stage and attempted to see over the crowd. Eventually he got a good look at what appeared to be a Raptor and a pegasus in armor having a tug of war with an unfortunate slave. The mare holding the slave by the upper body by hooking her mechanical hooves under his arms while the raptor held each of the slave's legs Gnoss continued to watch the competition with curiosity; not because of any real interest in the fate of the slave or the reason for it, throw followers of the Blood God in a sealed room and they’ll kill everything that isn’t one of them and then each other. What was curious was the pegasus. As far as he knew, Phage squadron were the only ponies that had dedicated themselves to the dark gods in service of the 38th Company. Eventually with a yell from the slave followed by an audible crack and tearing of flesh, the slave was torn in two, the pegasus taking off with her gory prize before dropping the body on the ground and seizing the head to twist it off and hold it triumphantly between her hooves. Gnoss decided to interject at this point by loudly coughing. Suddenly every eye in the room was upon him; not that he was worried, followers of Khorne were unstable, but they knew their place in the company, when to attack and when to wait for orders. Except maybe Tellis, but he was the exception to many of the Company’s rules. “Khornate Berserkers, Reavers, Ravagers, and my lord Astartes, I have come here to deliver to you your place in the battle plan for our coming fight with the Orks.” Gnoss took a moment to find the page detailing the place for the Khornates in the coming battle, “Your place will be in the rear for the worst case scenario of our lines breaking, this is where a good majority of you will be stationed.” Gnoss looked out into the crowd, many seemed deflated at this announcement. Save for the pegasus, she looked rather angry, but that may just be due to the fact that she worships Khorne. “Others, and the Raptor units we have at our disposal, will be deployed to the forest, to wait with Lord Sliver for the enemy Gargants to be eliminated before engaging the Orks on the right flank. Any who fail to follow this order shall be executed by firing squad after the battle has ended should they survive. Dismissed” Ponyville  - 38th Company reserves section - one day later Steely grumbled as she shifted around on the branch she’d chosen to lay on while the reserves waited for something to happen, anything really. She could hear the far off booms of artillery, and the clatter of heavy bolters firing. After the gargants had been destroyed, it seemed the battle had been in the Iron Warrior’s favor, she thought she might not even get to fight. But by what the vox man that had been stationed with them was telling, the battle was still a desperate situation for all on the front. ‘Wonder if they’ll break through? That’d be nice, finally be able to tear something apart with my bare hooves, right Khorne?’ ‘Kill kill kill kill kill kill kill murder blood blood blood blood kill slaughter carnage slaughter kill kill murder murder kill’ ‘Right.’ Then the vox man pressed his head to the ear piece and his face turned pale. He began to shout for them to mobilize, but was cut short as shoota rounds pierced his armor and turned him into a bloody mess along with his vox set. At the same time a hail of shoota fire and rockets seemed to come from every direction, tearing through the host of Khorne as the rounds and explosives did their job, tearing men, women, and aliens to pieces. Steely herself felt a more than a few close calls as rounds quickly stitched up the tree she was in. Taking to the air, she flew haphazardly as she attempted to make herself a hard target for whoever was shooting. She saw that many fellow cultists were taking cover and those with ranged weapons (mostly a few bolt and las pistols) were firing wildly in every direction, attempting to hit the phantom foe. Then she saw a barrel sticking out a nearby bush; seeing a target, Steely activated her augments and dove onto the bush, crushing it and its occupant. Moving the remains of the bush off of her target, she found an Ork with purple face paint beneath her, its chest caved inwards from the impact of her dive. “The enemy is here!” Steely shouted, barely being heard over the still sounds of battle. “We’ve got Orks behind the lines! FIND THEM AND KILL THEM! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!” “BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!” Her fellow Khornates echoed before finally finding their bearings and pin pointing where the Orks were hiding and either charging them in a frenzy or pouring fire on their location until they stopped firing back. Abandoning stealth, the Kommandos emerged from their hiding places, cresting roofs, jumping from shrubbery with choppas in hand, ready for a straight fight. Steely zeroed in on an kommando still firing from atop a nearby roof. Taking off, she rammed into the Ork and followed him on his fall to the ground, pulping his head after he landed. Steely reveled in the blood that spattered across her for a moment until another burst of fire drew her attention to another group of Orks coming at her, this group didn’t look like the ones she’d killed so far, these just looked like ‘normal’ Orks. “Well, guess the line broke after all.” Steely muttered before she readied herself to charge right into the pack of boyz. Feeling the stimulants coursing through her system and the roar of blood rushing in her ears. Then the Orks were burned by a giant fiery pillar from the sky. “Huh?” Was all Steely could manage as she watched the Orks burn. Looking around, she could see a giant pillar of light coming down around the center of town, where the command center would be. She heard a shouting in her head, more so than usual ‘FUCKING MAGIC BULLSHIT! KILL KILL KILL KILL PROVE POWER OF THE BLOOD GOD TO THESE PATHETIC SPELL FLINGERS!’ Steely took off, making a beeline for the center of town, stopping only to scatter and kill groups of Orks with diving attacks, pounding their skulls and bodies into the dirt. On one instance of these attacks, she came into conflict with Nob with some fancy armor who actually managed to survive having her hit his chest. The Nob let loose a volley of gunfire from his deafening heavy stubber. The carapace armor Steely wore held firm, however, she was thrown back by the weight of the impacts. Steely fell to the ground in a heap, dazed by the sound and impact from the Nob’s gun. “Stupid hos’, don’t matta’ wut fansy bits you’s gots on ya, we’ze da Orks and we’ze gonna krump youz and dem spikey boyz good!” Steely shook her head to clear it, and felt another rush of combat cocktail work its way through her system as the Nob brought the choppa down. Everything seeming to move more slowly as her life was on the line. A sane and smart move would be to move to the side to avoid the swing, but that’s not how followers of Khorne do things. So Steely flew forward into the Nobs chest as the blade took off a chunk of her tail. With the Nob on the ground, stunned, she brought down her hooves onto the Nobs arms, shattering them before bringing them both down onto his head. A thunderous roar echoed from nearby as a squiggoth smashed through a home and stopped, the Ork crew taking great joy in spraying the ground with gunfire. Steely looked at the squiggoth, and then at her hooves, and then back at the squiggoth, and then up towards the sky. Then a devilish smile crossed her face, and she flew up as far as she could go while still being below the layer of clouds. Looking down on the battlefield, and more specifically, the squiggoth. “This is stupid, but if it works, I’m a genius, and I’m taking that things jaw as a bedframe. If it doesn’t… well I guess I’ll be a stain on the ground.” Steely muttered to herself as she prepared for a vertical dive “Okay. Now. One… two…. BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!” Steely shouted as she dove straight down, picking up speed faster than she ever truly had before, barely able to keep her eyes open against the force of the wind flying in her face. The ground was certainly getting a lot closer. And so was her target. She swore that she could hear whistling like a shell falling while she dove. ‘Reaaaallllly hope this thing doesn’t move.’  Steely thought as her speed neared the point where she wouldn’t be able to survive if she missed. ‘Also really hope they don’t start shooting at me.’ On the Ork Squiggoth ‘Smashy Smasha’ - in the crew compartment Shotty pulled his gun back from one of the openings the compartment had to reload his shoota’, he was glad that the squiggoth driver had stopped so the boys could have sum gud fun shooting lots of dakka all over. Then he noticed one of the other boys looking up at the ceiling, his shooter fully loaded but forgotten at his side. The git looked like he was trying to hear something. “Oi! Ya Grot! Wat do ya think yur doin’!? Get ta shootin some dakka!” Shotty yelled. The boy turned to shotty and just said, “Yu ear dat?” Then a hole was punched through the roof right on top of their big pile of explosives and ammunition, and continued down through the compartment and the squiggoth before impacting the ground with enough force as to dig a crater of significant size and knock out the pony that had created it. Not that Shotty or any of the other boys in the compartment noticed this, as they had been vaporized by the explosion created from a powerfield impacting a large pile of explosives and ammo. The explosion did it’s fair share of damage to the squiggoth as well, destroying a large chunk of its spine and other vital organs near the explosion site. This was more damage than the beast could take and with a final roar, it keeled over onto it’s side. Ponyville - 4 hours after Nethalican activation Steely snapped awake from unconsciousness to the feeling of a cart moving under her. And a dead body on top of her. She surged upwards, using the mechanical strength of her legs to lift up the dead bodies piled on top of her and climb out from underneath them. “Oh hell I think we’ve got another plague zombie.” Said a mercenary as he readied a bolt pistol. “I’m not dead you idiot! Now where’s the Orks? Where’s the squiggoth I killed?” “Well to answer your questions in order, Miss Demanding, scattered after we killed their warboss, and back across town.” “Thank you!” Steely shouted as she took off towards where her trophy for khorne and future bedframe lay. Steely flew across town as fast as she could with sore wings and a bit of a hangover from the combat cocktail that’d been pumped into her during the battle. Eventually coming to the sight of her biggest kill yet. With a bunch of dark nerds getting ready to torch it. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Steely yelled as she flew in front of the nearest nerd she could find. “Preparing to incinerate this beast’s body as it is too large to fit inside of the nethalican site.” “No! This is my kill and I’m taking this things skull back with me!” “Infeasible, you alone cannot carry this and the company will not waste precious resources bringing a trophy back with us.” Then with a roar of engines, Tellis arrived, landing on top of the dark acolyte, who let out a string of binaric curses as the raptor stood on top of him. “Hey! You! I remember you! You’re the one with the legs! What was your name again? And what’re the nerds doing that’s pissing you off so much? That’s bad for your health.” Steely quickly recovered from having the person she was having a conversation with be crushed in front of her, and responded to Tellis. “I’m trying to keep’em from torching my kill there” Steely said, gesturing towards the squiggoth, “I wanna take it back to the Chaos Temple and dedicate the skull to khorne, maybe have a pony I know make the jaw into a bed frame.” “That sounds pretty awesome. Why don’t I have a bed made of my enemies bones?” “Don’t know. But could you help me out here?” “Yeah sure, sure. Always willing to help with an idea like this.” Tellis said as he turned around and turned on his helmet’s loudspeaker function before yelling at the Dark Mech preparing to torch the squggoth, “HEY NERDS BACK OFF OR WE KILL YOU ALL, THIS KILL IS OFF LIMITS!” The Dark Mechanicus looked at one another and shrugged before moving on from the squiggoth, looking for another piece of detritus to dispose of. “You can probably just shout that at’em again and they’ll back off.” Tellis said as he turned back Steely, “So how you gonna move this thing anyway?” “Yeah that’s my dilemma…” Steely said as she brought a hoof to her chin, lost in thought for a few moments before thinking out loud. “I mean if we had like, eight or ten more guys like you we could probably carry the head back, but I don’t know how we’d get them to agree to that.” “Hmmm. Yeah, I don’t know how either.” Tellis began scratching the back of his helmet. “Wait. Aren’t you in charge of the raptor units?” “Oh yeah, totally forgot about that. Been busy hanging out with Dash and her friends. Hold on.” Tellis opened the long disused com channel that was dedicated for his units use. “Yo, how many of you are still alive?” “Lord Tellis? This is raptor Rabalis. You have not communicated over this channel since the siege of the equine capital.” “Yeah, right, whatever. Listen, I need like, ten guys, we still have that many right?” “Yes lord, we do, but may I ask why-” “Cool, I just need you to send ten guys to my location, you guys are still in Ponyville right?” “Yes, we’re-” “Great, just send’em to me.” A few taps were heard over the vox channel, then a suppressed sigh. “Confirm, my lord, we are en route.” “Sweet.” Tellis shut off the channel and looked down at Steely who was prodding the Techpriest twitching beneath Tellis’s boots. “They’re on the way, when they get here, just tell’em I put you in charge, and if they question it, smack’em around a bit till they listen.” “You’re not staying?” Steely asked, looking up from the Techpriest. “Nah, got better things to do. See ya, Steel.” And with that, Tellis was gone. Steely could see twelve Raptors closing in on their position from the direction of the town center. The Techpriest, who had been slowly rising from his position on the ground was crushed once again as another Raptor landed on him, crushing his arms and making him yell out another string of binaric curses. The lead Raptor, having looked around for Tellis, settled his eyes on Steely. “I am Raptor Rabalis. Where is Lord Tellis… Reaver Lathe?” The raptor said, clearly taking a moment to read Steely’s identification rune. “Gone, but he left me in charge.” Steely said as though the Raptor had asked him the time. “...I beg your-” the Raptor began before being interrupted by a raptor tapping his own chainsword against his armor in a pattern. “You know this pony, sir?” Another quick set of taps affirmed this. Steely’s face lit up as she looked at the familiar… helmet. “Tharix! Haven’t seen you in a while! What’s it been, a few days?” A quick set of taps. “Yes.” The lead raptor said, translating “Right so listen, you think you guys could help me out here? Tellis said I was in charge, and I need to move that head” Steely gestured to the squiggoth, “Back to the Rhaos temple in Ferrous Dominus so I can dedicate it to Khorne and get the jaw made into a bed frame.” Silence dominated the group. Then Tharix moved forwards toward the head, revving up his chainsword in order to begin separating it from the body. “Sir! You cannot seriously be considering doing as this pony asks. It is beneath us to follow the orders of a xeno!” “I’m standing right here.” Tharix turned and revved his chainsword to communicate. “Yes, I understand Lord Tellis ‘put her in charge’ but I don’t think Lord Tellis would even care if we ignored his order.” Another flurry of taps. “But-” More taps and sigh of defeat. “Very well sir.” With, the remaining Raptors drew their weapons and moved towards the squiggoth to begin separating the head from the body and the jaw from the head. Except for Tharix, who moved towards Steely while gathering a small object from a pouch at his waist and handing it to Steely, who held it with her wing. “What’s this?” Tharix answered with a flurry of taps. Steely sighed and then kicked the Techpriest who was still on the ground in front of her. “Hey, nerd! What’d he say?” “Damn you equine.” Steely rolled her eyes and gave him a light tap on the head. “Wrong answer, try again.” She said “He said it’s a beacon to let them know where to drop off the jaw, and their communication channel. Apparently you’re in charge now.” “What? Why? I don’t know the first thing about commanding people.” Steely said, confused by this turn of events. Tharix answered her with taps and a nod to the Techpriest to translate. “He says that day to day running falls to the second in command, him, while you have the honor of leading the unit into battle. As for why? Lord Tellis has placed you ‘in charge’ as it were. While he likely only meant for this operation, he cares little for his command in general, so I see no reason not to extend this order. I have little doubt you’d be able to keep up with us. With perhaps a few more augmentations, of course.” “So why not have you take over as commander? I don’t think Tellis would care.” More taps, more translation “The thought has occurred to me before, but having consulted father Virgil on the matter, he recommended that I not attempt to usurp the position, nor give it to any of my subordinates.” “Soooo…. I’m in charge because Virgil said so?” Taps “Obliquely, yes.” “Cool, so… as my first order, uh, get that skull to the temple and get me registered as commander, I guess.” Tharix nodded and turned back towards the squiggoth to help with the grisly work Steely nodded as she looked at the beacon she still held with her wing. Then she looked over to the Techpriest who was slowly crawling away with broken arms. “You going to be okay?” Steely asked “Go away, equine.” “Just asking, jeeze.” Steely said she took off for the train station. It’d be a long ride to Ferrous Dominus after all. Ferrous Dominus - Dark Mechanicus Temple Secundus Dormitory - Aspirant Gear Works Dorm Gear Works sighed as he settled down onto his ‘bed’ and Striker into her charging station after a hard days of work, with the battle at Ponyville won, Phage Squadron and other pony units like them had come back to Ferrous Dominus with their equipment damaged from the fight, with Gear Works and Striker having to fix all of it. But now, with a majority of the work done, Gear Works and Striker could relax. Then the wall exploded inwards. Again. Luckily, no debris landed on Gear Works this time, only embedding a small shard of rockcrete into his organic eye. Looking to the hole with his augmetic, he saw Steely, standing in the makeshift entrance with what looked to be a grenade in hoof. “My eye!” “Don’t care.” Steely said as she looked down at the device in her hoof, trying to discern how to activate it. “Okay I think I press… ah, forget it. Here turn this on and keep it with you!” Steely threw the beacon at Gear Works, who managed to actually catch it, despite being somewhat blinded. “Why do you keep doing this!? What is this thing?!” Gear Works yelled, unable to decide whether to leave the shard of rockcrete in his eye or pulling it out. “Cause they won’t let me use the front entrance. But now that I sort of have rank, that may change. Or not. I kinda like smashing your wall. And it’s a beacon. My guy’s will be dropping it off soon. Make it into an awesome bed frame, will you?” “What is it?! Who are your guys!? Make what into a bed frame!? I have so many questions and you’re answering none of them!” Gear Works yelled as he looked at Steely with his augmetic eye. Then he noticed her ID rune had changed. “Wait… acting commander of Raptor forces? How? Why? When did yo-” “Don’t feel like answering those questions! See you at the bakery in Sector 6 tomorrow, alright! And if I don’t, I’ll come back here!” Steely said as she took off through the hole and flew away. “But. I….” Gear Works sighed and then looked to the beacon she’d tossed him, recognizing its design, he hit the activation rune and the beacon began to blink. “So does she expect me to just wait for her guys or-” Gear Works was interrupted by the lower jaw a squiggoth expanding the hole in his wall, and actually knocking down the wall of other dorms beside his. He had to back up until he was pressed against the door to avoid being crushed, quickly grabbing Striker from her charging station as he did so. From outside the hole he heard someone say “Delivery completed, returning to barracks until next deployment.” Before a roar of engines signaled the voice leaving. The door opened up behind Gear Works, Acolyte Sheraan standing in the hallway. He took a moment to observe the destruction, the squiggoth jaw, and lastly the injured aspirant, who still had a shard of rockcrete sticking from his eye. Silence dominated the scene for at least five minutes before Sheraan spoke. “You are going to clean all of this up, Aspirant.”