Part 36 (1/2)

*Dispose of her,' ordered Zeth, pointing with a free hand to the shaft in the centre of the chamber that dropped through the forge to the magma beneath. *And hold her tight all the way down.'

Zeth turned away, focusing her attentions on the steel control columns that linked her to the vast and complex structure of the Magma City's core systems. She looked up at the glowing schematic of her forge and with heavy heart issued the last of her macroinstructions.

THARSIS HASTATUS, AN engine that had marched to victory on a hundred worlds, was obliterated in a single salvo. A punis.h.i.+ng volley from Aquila Ignis' h.e.l.lstorm cannon stripped her of her s.h.i.+elds in an instant, and a devastating impact from its plasma annihilator reduced it to smoking, white-hot debris.

Cavalerio felt the death of his friend and comrade, Princeps Suzak, like a knife to the heart, and fought to control his anger and grief as they threatened to swamp him. The Manifold held him in its grip and his attention was firmly dragged back to the battle.

*Situation report!' he barked. *Who's still standing?'

Palus sent out an active pulse of auspex energy to burn through the interference caused by so much powerful weapon discharge and reactor explosions. *I'm only getting returns from Metallus Cebrenia and Raptoria,' he said, his voice heavy with disbelief. *Aeschman's skitarii are still fighting, but they're almost gone.'

So caught up in the furious combat was he, Cavalerio had quite forgotten that an equally b.l.o.o.d.y conflict had been raging beneath him on the ground. In an engine war of such ferocity, infantry was virtually an irrelevance, but it never paid to forget the courage of those who fought beneath the battling leviathans.

<get our=”” s.h.i.+elds=”” back=”” to=”” full=”” strength.=”” now!=””> he canted, sorting through a mora.s.s of data feeds, replaying inloads from his brother princeps to piece together the battle beyond his immediate concerns.

Before his engine's horrifying destruction, Suzak had fought like the killer he was, dispatching a Reaver and a Warlord before the Imperator had slain him. On the right flank, Princeps Sharaq and Metallus Cebrenia had, together with Princeps Kasim and Raptoria, taken down the last Reaver, which left only the Imperator, Aquila Ignis.

The Mortis engines had come expecting an easy victory, and no matter what happened next they would leave the bulk of their force burning on the Martian sands. Tempestus had earned themselves a legendary place in the history of Mars.

*It's firing!' shouted Kuyper.

Cavalerio opened a Manifold link to his surviving warriors. *All Tempestus engines, this is the Stormlord-'

Princeps Cavalerio never got a chance to finish his order as a thunderous series of impacts smashed into his engine. Searing pain, worse than the death of his beloved Victorix Magna, surged through his body as the weakened s.h.i.+elds collapsed under the barrage of missiles from the Imperator's upper bastions.

Deus Tempestus' s.h.i.+eld emitters blew out in a cascading series of explosions, and the Stormlord's body spasmed in its tank as the feedback blitzed through his mind, fusing his synapses with those of the Manifold.

In his last seconds of life, he saw the heroic march of Metallus Cebrenia and Raptoria as they advanced upon the red and silver monster. Their weapons arms were wreathed in fire as they advanced, heedless of the impossibility of ever hurting the Imperator, though to call it such now that its masters had turned to the cause of treachery seemed perverse.

Metallus Cebrenia was the first to die, her right leg blown off, and an almost scornful barrage of rockets finis.h.i.+ng her off as she lay helpless in the ruins of a giant loading bay. Raptoria lasted only moments longer. Her s.h.i.+elds were torn away by a sweeping blast of gatling cannon fire, and her speed was no protection from a volley of Apocalypse missiles that flattened an area a kilometre square.

Cavalerio felt their deaths and watched through the Manifold as Deus Tempestus sensed them too. Blood poured from his ravaged flesh and the liquid in his casket was almost opaque with it. He pushed himself to the front of the tank, feeling the fluids pouring from cracks in the gla.s.s and seeing the smoking ruin that was all that was left of his c.o.c.kpit section.

Kuyper was dead, his body slumped and on fire in his moderati's chair, while across from him, the steersman, Lacus, was little more than a mangled lump of torn flesh. Cavalerio couldn't see his sensori, now realising that the entire upper section of the c.o.c.kpit was open to the sky. The enginseer who had replaced Magos Argyre, an adept named Thunert, was still alive, only his lack of flesh saving him from the fires that swept the c.o.c.kpit.

Cavalerio fought down his anguish as he saw the triumphant Aquila Ignis stride towards him, its colossal tread shaking the ground.

Its guns were silent and Cavalerio knew why, feeling the spiking pain of skitarii breaching charges detonating against his engine's leg armour.

*Mortis wants to capture us,' he said. *I can feel them crawling inside us already.'

With what remained of his connection to the Manifold, the Stormlord linked with the enginseer's station.

<we can't=”” let=”” them=”” take=”” us,=”” thunert,=””> canted Cavalerio. <you know=”” what=”” we=”” have=”” to=”” do.=””> *I do,' agreed Thunert. *Though it goes against all my teachings, the alternative is worse.'

*Then do it,' ordered Cavalerio. *Disengage all reactor safeties.'

*It is already done, Stormlord.'

*May the Omnissiah forgive us,' whispered Indias Cavalerio.

Seconds later, Deus Tempestus was utterly annihilated as her plasma reactor went critical with the force of a miniature supernova.

The death of Deus Tempestus was almost the last act in the battle of the Magma City.