The hapless fleet

Although the Black Templars had little love for the Imperial Inquisition, they would not openly oppose it. Since an Inquisitor had made the request, Farrion could hardly object.

Still, as he handed the Bionic Limbs to the two Sages, he added a warning.

"These two Bionic Limbs were made by the Ancient Construct Iax for Commander Sien. He takes promises extremely seriously. If you fail to return them on time and cause any problems with Iax, or cause him to rampage, you may bear the primary responsibility for the resulting disaster."

At Farrion's words, the Sages, who had still been thinking of simply confiscating the Bionic Limbs, suddenly hesitated.

This was Imperial Navy territory, not one of their Adeptus Mechanicus vessels. If their actions caused severe losses to Imperial forces, their own order might well hand them over to the Imperium for punishment.

Had they been on their own territory, or had no Astartes been present, the two Sages could even have ordered everyone who knew about the matter eliminated.

But that was simply impossible under the present circumstances.

The Black Templars, an Imperial Inquisitor, and an Imperial Navy fleet.

Unless the Adeptus Mechanicus wanted to go to war with the Imperium.

As for the destructive power of rampaging Men of Iron...

Though they had never witnessed it firsthand, the records within their order were quite clear. The Adeptus Mechanicus had once provided the Emperor with technical support to control several damaged combat Men of Iron recovered from ancient times.

The Abominable Intelligence within them was cruel and savage, even deriving satisfaction from bloody combat. Their murderous dispositions were almost identical to those of the Rebels who had pledged themselves to Khorne, the dark god of the Warp.

It had taken the Emperor centuries to bring those few damaged battle robots left over from the Dark Age under control. Countless technical artisans and Adeptus Mechanicus personnel had participated in electronic torment and mechanical alterations, finally completing their conversion and subjugation. They had then been renamed Essendio Battle Robots.

Even so, control over these Men of Iron remained extremely tenuous. Once they killed too much, the robots would still involuntarily enter a rampage, slaughtering everything around them without distinguishing friend from foe.

Yet their combat capabilities were so exceptional that the Imperium had never been willing to destroy them.

The Dark Angels Chapter had come here because those Men of Iron machines had subsequently all been entrusted to the First Legion. Their presence also served a supervisory purpose.

Clearly, dangerous as these machines were, they were still remarkably useful as long as one knew how to employ them properly.

Now that word had arrived of a new Man of Iron appearing here, even the First Legion would not pass up such an opportunity.

If possible, they would stop at nothing to capture this newly emerged Ancient Construct, send him back to their Chapter's home, and arrange for Imperial technicians and Adeptus Mechanicus personnel to modify him.

But Iax's condition had truly exceeded their expectations.

He did not seem to be a purely combat-oriented Man of Iron. He had displayed exceptionally high intelligence and a stable personality, and seemed entirely different from the battle robots kept within Stasis Fields in their Chapter.

His appearance was not menacing, his body bore no visible arrays of weapons, and he had not engaged in frenzied slaughter. He had even helped the Black Templars eliminate a group of Iron Warriors who had invaded in a Boarding Action.

Nor had he rampaged after the killing.

If not for their own arrogance, perhaps they could have brought him back through conversation. Now, however, that was plainly impossible.

His movement speed exceeded even Astartes reactions, and he had later demonstrated the ability to jump through space. Clearly, attempting to control an Ancient Construct like him was probably unrealistic.

Furthermore, according to the intelligence reports, his body was extraordinarily durable, shrugging off even close-range bolter fire and melta weapons.

An indestructible super-unit.

Meanwhile, the Departmento Munitorum had suffered the worst headaches.

The Captain had reported everything that had happened aboard the Resolute.

To ensure the sector's safety, the Departmento Munitorum had no choice but to instruct the Captain to disregard these issues. Whatever happened, maintaining the sector's stability had to take priority.

The Cruiser Scythe had been forced to abandon its own mission and take its fleet along with the Battleship on patrol.

After all, the Dark Angels delivered by the Scythe had not returned, the Black Templars it was supposed to collect had yet to come aboard, and neither the Inquisitor nor the Adeptus Mechanicus Sages had returned.

As a result, the Lunar-class Cruiser had no choice but to bring its fleet along with the Battleship Resolute to patrol the defense zone.

If the Captain of the Scythe abandoned these people and became implicated in anything that happened to them, he would probably have to shoot himself the next day.

After offending two Space Marine Chapters, the Inquisition, and the Adeptus Mechanicus at once, being allowed to quietly kill himself would probably be the best possible outcome.

When the entire fleet proceeded to the next region according to its mission orders and emerged at the Mandeville Point...

The debris strewn across the space before them put everyone on edge.

Clearly, they had wasted too much time earlier. This place had already come under attack.

Fortunately, the cluster of Space Stations established by the Imperium still remained.

The fleet received the Space Stations' distress signal almost immediately.

And thanks to the Hyperion-class vessel's extraordinarily long-range detection systems...

The Resolute was the first to spot the anomaly.

Although the Space Station cluster was still intact, more than a dozen strangely shaped vessels of varying sizes were behind it, firing on it relentlessly.

Most of the surrounding debris had come from those bizarre vessels.

The battle alarm sounded throughout the ship.

Its piercing wail assaulted everyone's ears.

Sien, whose body had yet to recover, could not go to the Bridge this time to ask the Captain what had happened.

With the battle alarm sounding, however, everyone had to set aside Sien's treatment for the moment.

Both the Techmarine and the Apothecary had to regroup with the other battle-ready brothers.

As the feed appeared before them, the slightly blurry green projection clearly showed the enemies firing wildly a short distance away.

Vast volleys of laser fire and shells erupted from the ships. One particularly absurd patchwork contraption even plunged straight into a Space Station's Void Shield after unleashing a broadside.

The Space Station's guns immediately returned fire.

But besides firing continuously, these ships were also sending large numbers of assorted small craft toward the Space Station.

"That ramshackle, crude style."

"That suicidal way of fighting."

"Those markings that just scream trouble."

"They're Orks."

"They can only be Orks."

"They're definitely Orks!"

Just as the Astartes gathered to analyze the situation, the Captain's transmission came through.

"Adeptus Astartes, the Space Stations have requested assistance. They are under attack by Orks. Although the Void Shields remain intact, the Orks have driven their ships straight into the stations under fire."

"This Space Station cluster is a Commercial Center. Its garrison was redeployed because of the fighting nearby, leaving its internal defenses extremely weak. If more ships pass through the Void Shields and crash into the stations, I fear the Orks will overrun this place."

"The fleet will disperse immediately, then open fire on all Ork vessels. Naval boarding teams will be deployed to the stations to fight. If possible, I would like to ask you brothers to assist in the battle."

For once, the Black Templars and the Dark Angels were in agreement.

"For the Emperor, for glory."