For Evan, firing missiles was the act that declared war.
But for the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Iron Hands, awakening the machine spirits was already a signal to begin hostilities.
The Hammonk patriarch dared not act rashly. These ships could not possibly be destroyed by the Ark Mechanicus's badly damaged point-defense weapons. If even one orbital bombardment-grade bomb landed on it, the losses would be irreversible.
This Ark Mechanicus was worth more than an ordinary Forge World.
"By the Omnissiah, use your brain, if it hasn't already turned into a lump of metal." Evan—the Machine God's lock-picking disciple, the Adeptus Mechanicus's lifelong enemy, Vashtorr's nemesis, the Salamanders Forge Master's eternal friend, the sneaky mastermind behind the IV Legion's great calamity, the Imperial Fists' counterfeit son, and guardian of the Shadow Venom Blade Chapter's surviving elders—was finally about to start trouble with the Iron Hands.
"Use your brain... with this much military strength, do we really look like we're here to reinforce the battlefield? Do you think the Emperor would be worried about a battle commanded by a First Founding Chapter?"
Hammonk urgently recalled a contingent of warriors from the ground battlefield to its Strike Cruiser. They were ready to awaken the Dreadnoughts, but the patriarch still had to decide who their opponent actually was.
The Iron Father returned to space from the ground command center. He was equally furious, but far calmer than the patriarch.
"Stop what you're doing. We cannot fight both sides at once. That would cause this crusade to fail, utterly. Every one of us would have to perform collective penance."
The Iron Father was not only an outstanding Techmarine, but also served as a Chaplain. After all, the Iron Hands' neophyte transformation could practically be called a half-mechanical ascension.
"I understand. In the Machine God's name,