Chapter 23: Only an Idiot Dies Like in the Holovids
For now, Omega and his companions could afford to watch the live broadcast of the battle. Firstly, the battlefield was far away, on the other side of the planet. Secondly, it was clear to any observer that both sides had chosen to fight in the barren wastelands. Neither faction wanted to inherit a ruined Forge World; the more intact, the better.
So, while they wouldn't be able to claim the glory of aiding the victor, they also didn't have to worry about becoming collateral damage. No matter who won, someone would need to do the work. The factory district had limited food and supplies, but starvation wasn't an immediate concern. And judging by the attitudes of both warring factions, the conflict wasn't expected to last long. It had the feel of a "first battle is the final battle" situation.
The Temple faction had to secure victory before other Imperial powers could react and intervene. With Archmagos Veyl's extensive network of contacts and his status as a staunch lapdog of the Lord Regent, any external intervention would inevitably favor him—a scenario the Temple faction desperately wanted to avoid.
Conversely, Archmagos Veyl's Grand Manufactorum faction also wanted to prevent outside interference. He was Guilliman's lapdog, but he wasn't the Imperium's lapdog. The involvement of other powers would inevitably lead to a division of his interests. A quick and decisive victory was best for everyone. Both sides had gone all-out from the beginning, unleashing their full firepower, hoping to take down the other in a single decisive battle.
The Temple faction had been plotting for years and was well-prepared. The Grand Manufactorum, though caught off guard and forced to simultaneously fight off an external attack while purging internal traitors, had controlled the Forge World for many years. Even with their forces diminished, they were not at a disadvantage on the battlefield.
Omega watched as Skitarii legions clashed with servitor armies, as Sydonian Dragoons exchanged fire with Krios battle tanks, and as Pteraxii Sterylizors dueled with Archaeopters in the sky.
"Incredible! Absolutely incredible! But who do you think is broadcasting this live feed?" Omega, feeling he had spotted both a "blind spot" and a "key point," curiously asked Aedus and the others.
"They're all Tech-Priests; everyone has a few tricks up their sleeve. But to do this with your head on the line, that's a special kind of crazy," Aedus replied.
"Is it that dangerous? Are the Enginseers-Provost still making arrests right now?" Omega thought of the internal police force of the Mechanicus, a combination of cop, warden, and secret police responsible for keeping unruly cog-heads in line.
"No, they're probably all on the battlefield by now. I just saw a flash of someone with a Provost insignia get melted into a puddle of slag by a multi-melta."
"Oh. Then what's the danger you were talking about?"
"Think about it. On that battlefield, both sides are jamming each other, launching electronic attacks. Unmanned reconnaissance drones like the servo-skull on your head are useless. So what other way is there to film and broadcast the footage?"
Omega thought for a moment. "If drones can't be used... are they filming it up close, with people?!"
Aedus shrugged. "What other way is there? Unless their technology is several levels higher than the Magi on the battlefield, how could they be completely unaffected? I'm guessing they're even using physical data-cables to transmit the footage to a place outside the electronic interference zone before uploading it to the comms network."
"That's insane!" Omega exclaimed.
Louis added, "No matter how insane they are, they're not as insane as the two sides fighting on the battlefield right now."
"True. Did you guys see the Electro-Priests earlier? One side was discharging electricity, the other was absorbing it. Shouldn't they all be on the Temple's side?" the naive Priestess Rhea asked.
Omega, who was well-versed in this particular subject, mercifully explained it to the cog-girl. "It's a hallmark of the Electro-Priest Brotherhood—infighting. The ones discharging are the Corpuscarii, the ones absorbing are the Fulgurites. The two factions consider each other heretics and have been fighting for thousands of years. They certainly wouldn't miss a golden opportunity like this to kill some heretics."
"Ah! I see," Rhea said, surprised.
As they chatted, the brightness of the live feed suddenly flared, the image shook violently, and then the signal cut out.
"Was it hit by an explosion?!"
"Probably!"
"Well, I wonder when the next crazy brave soul will show up."
"Speaking of which, it's time for my patrol."
Omega beckoned to the servo-skull that had been projecting the image. The skull, which had been hovering motionlessly, descended and began to circle around him.
Seeing this, Louis said with envy, "That's a convenient little thing. Where did you get it?"
"A second-hand, decommissioned piece I picked up from the black market. I was going to take it apart, but then I realized it wasn't that complicated, so I just fixed it up and put it in my cabinet. Now that I have a use for it, I took it out. I just don't like the skull shape; it's creepy."
Omega couldn't bring himself to like the real human skull, but he didn't dare change its appearance. All servo-skulls looked like skulls; the skull represented human purity. If his was the only one that didn't, what would people think? If an Inquisitor saw it, would they think he was a "little heretic"?
Louis and Aedus winced at Omega's casual bragging. They certainly didn't think it was a simple fix. Was the miniature anti-gravity engine just for show? What did he mean, "it wasn't that complicated"? Was the gap between priests really this vast?
Rhea, however, had a different reaction. She also had a broken servo-skull, which had been sitting on her shelf as a decoration. Now, the chance to reawaken its Machine Spirit had arrived. "Omega, I have a broken one too. Can you help me fix it?"
"No problem. I'll come get it from you after my patrol," Omega said, then drove off in his exosuit.
"I think Omega really could become an Archmagos in the future," Aedus said, watching Omega's retreating figure.
"It's not a question of if," Louis replied, "but how long it will take."
Seeing their confidence in Omega, Rhea asked curiously, "You're all that confident in him?"
Aedus looked at the still-naive, twenty-something Rhea and thought, The environment really does have a huge impact on a person. He patiently explained, "Rhea, you grew up by Magos Laust's side, with your father teaching you personally, so you don't feel it as keenly—how difficult it is to master advanced technical knowledge on your own."
"I think it's hard too, you know!" Rhea said, annoyed that her own efforts were being dismissed. "My father doesn't tell me everything!"
Louis chuckled. "Alright, don't be mad. You know Aedus is clumsy with words. That's not what he meant."
"That's right, that's not what I meant," Aedus explained hastily.
"Hmph! Then what did you mean?"
"I mean, your environment has made it so you don't feel the same way about Omega as a normal priest like me or Louis. He's a genius. A real genius!"
"I know he's a genius. So what?"
"A child who's only two years old, with a physiological age of eight, repaired a servo-skull with a miniature anti-gravity engine all by himself!"
"Oh."
"Now think about the changes to his exosuit, and the weapons it's equipped with, especially that power axe."
Rhea thought for a moment. "A power weapon? A disruption field generator!"
Louis interjected, "Not just that! Think about it. Hasn't he been wearing a new necklace and a new belt? Have we seen those before?"
"No, we haven't, but..."
"Omega may be childish in personality and has done some ridiculous things, but have we ever seen him do anything meaningless, Rhea?" Louis asked.
Rhea's eyes widened in disbelief. "Err... that... it couldn't be a shield, could it?"
"A rosarius and a refractor field belt!"
"Impossible! Where would he get those?"
"Don't forget all the 'junk' Omega has been collecting from others this past year!"
"He repaired them himself?" Rhea said, still in disbelief. "Where did he get the technology?"
Aedus said, "Even if you put the technical data in front of me, I'm not sure I could master it in a year. Louis, could you?"
Louis rolled his eyes. "I'd master it one hour and thirteen minutes before you. Rhea, what about you?"
"I... I'd master it before Aedus too, hmph!"
Aedus shrugged. "I don't know how Omega got the technical knowledge, whether someone taught him or he found an STC. The point is, he understood it, he mastered it, and he put it into practice!" Aedus looked at Louis and Rhea with a bitter smile, recalling the one-and-a-half-hour intellectual beatdown Omega had given them. That was a blow to their understanding of low-end tech; this was a shock to their understanding of high-end tech. "Compared to Omega, what's the difference between us and an Ogryn?"
Unaware that he had been exposed, Omega was happily firing his lascannon at some rocks in an empty lot.
"Human cannon, level one, prepare!"
"Human cannon, level two, prepare!"
"Human cannon,level three, prepare!"
"Fire!"
"Target destroyed!"
What boy could refuse the joy of firing a cannon from inside a mech? Omega certainly couldn't.
With the servo-skull doing the work for him, all he had to do was wait for it to finish scanning an area, then move on to the next. The servo-skull's built-in augur-array was much more efficient and accurate than his "eyeball recon." He didn't have the ability to detect spectra, heat, or radiation.
"Hmm? Life signs detected! Where is this?"
Omega decided to check it out from a distance before sounding the alarm. If he raised a false alarm, he'd be the boy who cried wolf, and Rhea and the others would never let him hear the end of it.
He snuck around, moving from cover to cover, his servo-skull taking the lead while he provided logistical support and fought a valiant battle with the air. Finally, he reached the location of the life signs.
"The factory district's wastewater discharge well? What the hell could be rolling around in chemical toxins and radioactive waste?!" Omega said, shocked.
But he wasn't stupid enough to go in himself. Only an idiot in a holovid would do that. Who knew what kind of monster could thrive in that environment? He was going to call for backup.
"Hey, Louis, I've got something good. Get Rhea and come over. And bring a few more people."