Kingdom of Disorder, Fourth Layer.
Nareth, high upon his throne, listened to the report of Lucius, Captain of the 13th Company of the Emperor's Children.
'Because of my intervention, the Schism of Mars has unfolded very differently.'
'I've taken control of Arkhan Land, who promoted the new noospheric technology, which blocked the scrapcode attack. In the original timeline, the scrapcode destroyed most of the forges, sparing only Zagreus Kane's Mondus Occulam, Koriel Zeth's Forge of the Magma City, and Ipluvien Maximal's forge.'
'I've also taken control of thirty-one thousand four hundred and twenty warriors from the Emperor's Children and Death Guard, who are stronger than the four Imperial Fists companies and the forty thousand Jovian and Saturnine Grenadiers. They have held the line against the Dark Mechanicum's subsequent assaults.'
He thought of the Schiaparelli Repository. 'In the original timeline, Mars's greatest knowledge vault was destroyed by the scrapcode, resulting in the loss of much technology after the Heresy.'
'Once Nathaniel Garro and his Dusk Raiders complete their backup, I will have secured most of Mars's technology.'
He gathered his thoughts and gave his command.
"The new power armor will be issued to the Emperor's Children under your command."
With a thought, he dismissed the cogitator and fifty-two datapads.
'The STC and data for the Mark VI Corvus-pattern power armor are mine.'
He knew that, in the original timeline, the Mark VI had been given by Rogal Dorn to the Raven Guard, who had suffered heavy losses at the Drop Site Massacre, to aid in rebuilding their Legion and continuing the fight against Horus Lupercal's traitor legions.
The Raven Guard had fully exploited the Mark VI's agility, combining it with Kiavahr's technology to make a series of improvements.
In fact, after the Gate Forty-two, feeling Horus's repression, Corax had returned to Deliverance and ordered Kiavahr to develop new power armor to break free from the Warmaster's control.
To honor Corax and the Raven Guard's contribution to its development, the pattern was eventually named the Corvus-pattern.
The Corvus-pattern became the loyalists' mainstay during the Siege of Terra and the Great Scouring.
'Corax, I've taken your Mark VI as well.'
'The loyalist Emperor's Children have replaced the Raven Guard as the first Astartes to be equipped with the Mark VI.'
His gaze turned to another suit of armor.
It had a heavy chest plate to accommodate the chest cables, overcoming the Mark VI's only real vulnerability.
Emblazoned upon it was a double-headed eagle, a symbol of loyalty to the Emperor. This would be the reason the Mark VII was named the Aquila-pattern.
This armor would become the standard equipment for Astartes for the next ten millennia.
'Most loyalists are still equipped with Mark II and Mark IV. My Legion has fully switched to Mark IV.'
'For a time, due to supply difficulties, they will have to use the heavier, heat-retaining Mark V Heresy-pattern, a simplified version of the Mark IV, until the Siege of Terra, when 'they get the Mark VI.'
My Legion can already mass-produce Mark VI, and even experimentally manufacture Mark VII.'
To date, Nareth had already exceeded the Imperial Fists' total strategic objectives and gains during the Schism of Mars, at a far smaller cost.
'By taking from Dorn and Corax, the Shadows of Order's power armor is now one generation ahead of the loyalists, soon to be two or three generations ahead, and one or two generations ahead of the traitors.'
'But that is not enough. Far from enough.'
'There are more objectives to achieve, more to take.'
He knew that to maintain his advantage, he had other strategic objectives to achieve.
"The Alphas, on the Warmaster's orders, have infiltrated Mars to seize the power armor prototype and its data."
He remembered that while Sigismund had, through his peerless swordsmanship, killed every Alpha he encountered, he had also failed strategically.
The Alphas had successfully infiltrated the forge temple and stolen the Mark VII data.
He knew Horus coveted two assets on Mars: the Mark VII STC and Koriel Zeth's Akashic Reader.
He had already secured the Mark VII. He also wanted the Akashic Reader, and he wanted to prevent Horus from getting either.
"You must be wary of their attacks. At the same time, fill your ships to the brim with armor and other equipment."
"Remember, completely full. Every Astartes' quarters must be filled."
"My Lord, this will affect the ships' maneuverability." Lucius said, puzzled.
"It won't." Nareth said.
"You will receive a new, more powerful warship than the Pride of the Emperor as your flagship. Among Imperial vessels, few can compare."
"This is your reward for completing my command."
"All the munitions that fill your ships will stock the arsenal of your new flagship."
Lucius knelt on one knee. "I thank my Lord for this gift."
"I will fill every corner of the ships."
"What cannot be filled will be used to bury our enemies."
"After that, Kane will realize he cannot hold his forge." Nareth wanted to win Kane over, as the future Fabricator General of the Mechanicum, to his side.
Kane would wield immense influence in the future political landscape of the Mechanicum and the Imperium.
'I can even use Kane's obsession with Mars to win him over.'
He knew that though Kane was loyal to Terra and the Emperor, Mars remained his highest priority.
During the War in the Webway, he, as the Emperor's trusted commander, had betrayed the Custodes and worked with Arkhan Land to find a Webway route to Mars.
Furthermore, during the Heresy, the Mechanicum had always considered the unresolved question of both Kelbor-Hal and Kane claiming the title of Fabricator General as an unresolved equation, calling it the Binary Succession.
Kane's representative on the Council of Terra, Vethorel, had proposed establishing a new Mechanicum to solve the problem. But the Council, fearing Martian power, had rejected Kane's demand outright.
Only after Kane threatened to withdraw the Titan Legions from the Solar War and sent the Imperator-class Titan Magnificum Incendius of the Legio Ignatum crashing into the Senate chamber was the resolution forced through.
'Kane's loyalty is not absolute. Mars's interests clearly take precedence.'
'Malcador and Dorn were unwilling to help him. I, on the other hand, am happy to assist.'
Though Camba Diaz was more level-headed than Sigismund, he had still been forced to retreat in the face of Lukas Chrom's abominable Kaban machines.
He had even abandoned the doomed Jovian Grenadiers. Without the teleportation of thirty Custodes to the battlefield, the forty thousand Jovian Grenadiers would have been annihilated.
"Your final task is to join forces with Vespasian and Nathaniel Garro to take Mondus Gamma."
"Seize all the spoils, then destroy Chrom's forge."
Chrom's Mondus Gamma was the other forge that possessed the Mark VI STC, and the only one that could rival Mondus Occulam in scale.
It must be destroyed. That would be a crippling blow to Kelbor-Hal and Horus.
....
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