Gods Legion

Curtis Mannheim, commander of the Iron Skull Titan Legion and princeps of a mighty Imperator Titan, led his Titan Legion and the Steel Ball Skitarii toward the largest Ork force currently on the planet under the orders of von Straub.

Fully immersed in his amniotic tank, Mannheim had no desire whatsoever to fight such a lopsided battle. The Gu Juji and Stompas the Orks built from scrap metal were utterly inferior to the god-machines under Mannheim's command in individual strength, but even ants could kill an elephant. The Orks' armored and Titan forces could drown them through sheer numbers.

After several heated arguments with von Straub, the governor—who cared only for his family's honor and his own tactical command—produced the Sacred Iron Treaty his family had signed with the Martian Mechanicus eight thousand years ago to threaten Mannheim's Legion.

He had no choice. No one could defy a Steel Treaty signed by the Martian Mechanicus. Yet Mannheim could not understand how such a glorious family, one capable of forging a treaty with the Martian Mechanicus, had fallen so rapidly in merely eight thousand years. The family heir possessed not a trace of the exceptional talent and Farsight his ancestors had once displayed. He only knew how to hide in his bedroom and move soldier pieces around a holographic sand table.

The Imperator Titan's ponderous footsteps flattened the low hills beneath it. Several Reaver Titans, hundreds of meters away, covered the god-machine's flanks, while farther out, Warhound Titans mingled among the Skitarii alongside the white-painted Steel Ball Skitarii.

"Estimated contact with the Ork armored force in five hours. Our current distance from the enemy is four thousand five hundred kilometers. They are closing in on us at high speed."

On the Imperator Titan's bridge, the radar officer, whose cranial interface was connected to the Titan's massive sensor array, sent the information through cables to Mannheim, linked with the Titan's consciousness.

The one on the far right was the Imperator Titan.

"Maintain current speed. We cannot become separated from the Skitarii."

"Order received. Relaying now."

Within the Titan's core reactor, tens of thousands of Machine God priests and labor slaves were completely fixed at their posts. Their modified arms had become interfaces of various models, while their crude lips had been replaced by receivers for compiled sacred code. The blue-glowing core reactor constantly emitted high-energy radiation particles capable of killing living creatures. Over their long years of service, the hair and flesh of these priests and slaves had fallen from their modified mechanical bodies. Every operator resembled a machine loaded with biological wetware more than a human.

++Praise the Omnissiah! Execute operation: 0023003913.VV1++

++Praise the miracle of the Machine God! Receive feedback: 22031444.AA14++

++Praise the primordial force! Adjust energy output to 45.1577889%++

++Praise the sanctity of the machine spirit! Core reactor stability check: 99.99999999999999%. Next reactor stability check estimated in five standard seconds++

++Sacred ritual of god-machine operation and maintenance, 14,158,726,941st completion confirmed. Proceed to the next process in 0.15 standard seconds. Praise the Omnissiah in unison++

The compiled language passed among the tens of thousands of operators without the slightest delay. Apart from the steady hum of the reactor, the entire chamber contained only the faint, rhythmic beeping of their mouth-compilers. Their indicator lights flashed at such extreme speed and frequency that the gaps when they went dark were almost impossible to see.

These Machine God priests, who had dedicated everything to the Titan god-machine and the Omnissiah, meticulously and swiftly adjusted the power of that mighty heart, delivering energy throughout the Titan's body through safer and more efficient methods. If the Titan were compared to a creature of flesh and blood, these Machine God priests were its heart muscles, never capable of error.

The Titan Legion and Skitarii advanced in silence, without a single unnecessary word. Communication through sacred code put this army far beyond the Planetary Defense Force. While those commanders still relied on their naked eyes and holographic maps to judge the situation between command centers and the front lines, princeps linked to Titan consciousness could survey the entire battlefield from a god's perspective. While encircled troops needed communicators and telephones to call for fire support from rear positions, Skitarii soldiers only needed to open their networks and broadcast a signal into the air. The god-machines would receive the request at once, turn their weapons, and bring utter destruction upon the enemy.

The Iron Skull Titan Legion would fight to the last for the Omnissiah's glory. Steel Star's Skitarii would fight to the last man for these miracles of the Omnissiah walking the mortal world.

The radiation carbines and plasma rifles in the hands of the Skitarii vanguard beneath the Titans could tear any Ork apart. The blade-armed Infiltrators, equipped with power shredder blades, could effortlessly cut through the Orks' thick welded armor and their flesh. Steel Ball's Electro-Priests shed blue electro-melt tears, while the Tesla coils on their backs and arms displayed the Omnissiah's supreme might.

The four-legged Onager Dunecrawlers, the tracked Destroyer Battle Servitors, and the "Raven" Knight Order marching alongside them formed the army's heavy-firepower core.

As the Imperator Titan crushed a shattered mountain path through a laterally stretching ridge, Ork aircraft swooped toward the legion of gods.

It was difficult to tell whether an Ork aircraft was a bomber or a fighter. In truth, it was difficult to even determine whether those aircraft had come off the same production line. Planes bearing the personal flair of their Mek builders underwent further modifications once they reached the hands of Orks who loved flying and dropping bombs. Every Ork aircraft was unique, and their weapons were equally varied and distinctive.

Those who still had some teeth left after buying an aircraft would have the Mek boys install enormous bombshells, then drop them on their enemies' heads to admire the explosion. Poorer flyboyz could only cobble together their junk planes, use their own handiwork to stuff them full of Big Bombs—though Big Bombs were actually the smallest bombs the Orks had, generally used by Deffkoptas—then tie on every Dakkagun they had used before. They only needed to roughly aim downward; once the fighting started, they would drop the bombs, hold down the triggers, and spray everything below.

The moment the Ork aircraft appeared in the Imperator Titan's targeting sensors from afar, the cathedral-like fortress built across the Titan's body began its anti-air mission.