Chapter 54: Archmagos Cawl is Awesome!
Ventris nodded. His battle-brothers had also reported on the Worker-Soldiers' condition. He had planned to ask Magos Laust about it in private, as it involved the secrets of the Adeptus Mechanicus and was not something to be discussed in public. He hadn't expected Laust to bring it up himself.
Ever since he had met the little brat Omega, he had felt that this was a rather... unique... little cog-head. The things he thought about were different from those of a normal cog-head. A normal cog-head thought about efficiency and effectiveness. Omega, before all that, would first consider the "people." He was an annoying little brat, but you couldn't bring yourself to hate him.
"The modified version will be administered to all soldiers. For the plague-infected soldiers, explain the side effects of the original version and let them choose for themselves."
"Understood."
"Magos Laust, please produce enough devices for the soldiers as quickly as possible. At the same time, I need to transfer the several thousand soldiers from the settlement here. We now need a steadfast hammer to open a breach for us."
"Of course, Captain Ventris," Laust replied.
After the meeting, Laust returned to his quarters in the command post. Rhea, Jacob, and the others were already waiting anxiously. Seeing him return, Rhea couldn't wait to ask, "Father, how is Omega now?"
"There is no news yet."
"How..."
"No news is not necessarily bad news. It's not his turn to fight the daemons at the Grand Manufactorum yet. The only way to help Omega now is to complete the tasks assigned to us in the meeting as quickly as possible."
"Yes, Father."
"Understood, Magos."
Omega, the one Laust had said wouldn't be fighting daemons, was currently piloting the "Omega" and firing a relic grav-cannon he had "borrowed" from a Magos at the daemonic horde.
Trapped in a sea of filth, Omega no longer cared about secrets. After discovering that his "little toys" couldn't achieve the "make the daemons cry" effect he desired against the thick-skinned Nurgle daemons, he had turned his attention to the damaged relic weapons in the hands of the Magi. He knew very well what goodies the Magi had in their pockets, so he had gone directly to the owner of the grav-cannon and said that he had a sudden inspiration and could fix it. The Magos, busy fighting the daemons, had just thought that Omega was tired from the battle and was too embarrassed to say so, and had just made up an excuse. So he had a servitor deliver the relic to Omega.
Omega, who had already figured out what was wrong with the grav-cannon, took a nap and then began to repair the weapon. He took the materials he needed directly from the warehouses of the Grand Manufactorum. Having a Fabricator-General for a dad meant he could be that willful.
This grav-cannon could be traced back to the Dark Age of Technology. This gravity-projection weapon was extremely sophisticated, and even during the Great Crusade ten thousand years ago, few had survived. Those that were excavated were mostly damaged. By manipulating the very nature of gravity, a grav-weapon could use a target's own mass against it, crushing it into a pile of goo.
The one in Omega's hands, after being repaired, could cover an area of fifty square meters. The downside was its high energy consumption and long recharge time. Using only the weapon's built-in micro-atomic reactor, it took ten minutes to recharge after a single shot. But Omega had a way to overcome this drawback. Couldn't he just install a power interface and connect it to the energy conduits on the city wall? Oh, and add a cooling system, in case he got carried away and overloaded it. He didn't want to meet the Omnissiah just yet.
When Omega reappeared on the city wall, this weapon from the peak of human civilization had returned to its peak in the 42nd Millennium, and had even surpassed it, shocking all the Magi.
"Scared now, huh?" Omega sneered at the daemons who dared not approach the weapon's effective range after he had cleared it of all enemies.
"Omega, that..." The voice of the weapon's owner came through Omega's comms.
"Magos, it's the one you had."
"By my Omnissiah, you really fixed it?"
Omega, no longer caring about secrets, his smug nature returning, puffed out his chest and said proudly, "I even improved it."
"Improved it! By the Machine God!"
"Otherwise, where would it get so much power?" Omega continued to gloat.
"How did you do it?" the Magos asked, incredulous.
"The grace of the Machine God, the blessing of the Omnissiah. I thought of it, and so I did it," Omega could only answer. If he said he had a system, the Magos probably wouldn't understand.
"..." There was only silence from the comms.
With no enemies in sight and the Magos silent, Omega felt a little awkward. He said into the comms, "Magos, would you like to take it back and try it?"
"Yes!!" the Magos replied, quickly and decisively.
"Shameless!" another Magos's voice came through the comms.
"Your mother is open-source, what's it to you?"
"I just felt like cursing."
Omega's thought: Is someone eavesdropping? Oh, it's the public network, no wonder...
Seeing the Magi about to argue, Omega, thinking that this was no time to disrupt internal unity, said, "Magi, don't argue. It's just one weapon. I remember, Magos Connolly, you have a broken needle blaster. I just had an idea, you..."
"Here!" Connolly replied, just as quickly and decisively.
"Truly shameless!" This time it was Magos Lyra.
Omega ╮(︶﹏︶)╭
Unlike most other solid-projectile weapons, a needle blaster fires fine needles made of liquefied metal. This weapon can use almost any raw material; the user simply puts a metal block or projectile into the ammunition port at the back of the weapon. Its internal battery then melts it into ammunition and fires it. Each shot can fire 4-6 super-hot, super-sharp short needles.
For those who could only passively endure the daemons' attacks, with no way to fight back, repairing relics to enhance their own strength was the only method Omega could think of. So, for the next period of time, Omega's daily routine became fighting daemons (for inspiration) and repairing relics (to deal with the increasingly creepy Magi).
Not all relics could be repaired by Omega. Some used materials whose refining processes had been lost, with no viable substitutes. Others were the insane creations of mad tech-priests, like the high-tech toaster.
Basically, every Magos would ask Omega how he did it. Omega's standard answer was: "The grace of the Omnissiah." The principle was that he only knew the general idea, and the repair was all done by intuition. Why could Greenskins "think" things into existence, but he, Omega, couldn't? What was the Machine God and the Omnissiah lacking that Gorkamorka wasn't?
As for whether the Magi would try to uncover Omega's secrets in the future, that depended on whether there was a "future." For now, they only cared about the "now."
The only thing that made Omega a little uncomfortable was that the Magi now looked at him with a strange, creepy look in addition to their usual "lust." He knew this feeling all too well; he had seen it every day in the settlement from the workers. He was now genuinely afraid that one day, someone would "thump" and kneel before him, shouting "Omnissiah."
If there was anyone who could give Omega a sense of security when he was a little scared, it was his "dad." Archmagos Veyl, after discovering another of his "buried" talents, had, in addition to complaining about the unreliable tutors his parents had found for him, multiplied the cost of the materials Omega used by 100, added a "son usage fee," and put it all on the Magi's tab, to be settled after the war.
Omega's thought: My "wild father" has never changed!
But even with the "power of Omega," the walls and fortifications were still being breached, section by section. The Skitarii had lost nearly half their number, and the priests had also suffered heavy casualties. The good news was that as they were forced to shrink their defensive perimeter, they could allocate more personnel and firepower to each defensive point. The bad news was that this was the last wall. If it fell, they would have no defenses left and would have to hole up in the Grand Manufactorum and fight to the death with the Nurgle daemons.
Outside the Grand Manufactorum, in the Teyedan Allied Command, another war council was being held. This time, there were a few unfamiliar faces among the Space Marines. From the paint on their power armor, it was clear they were not from the Ultramarines Chapter, but from other Chapters.
The meeting was still presided over by Captain Uriel Ventris. He began by introducing the reinforcements who had come to their aid. "This is Chapter Master Isaac Arnoldus of the Knights of Iron Chapter. He and his battle-brothers have come to our aid in response to our call." The attendees rose and saluted the grim, world-weary warrior, who silently returned the salute. "This is Chief Chaplain Colin Kaufman of the Covenant of Fire Chapter. He and his 300 battle-brothers have abandoned their original mission to come to our aid." The attendees rose again to show their respect to the Chief Chaplain in his orange and gold power armor. The helmeted Chaplain also rose and returned the salute.
[INQUISITORIAL NOTE: KNIGHTS OF IRON]
Founded in M32, before the Fourth Founding. Successor Chapter of the Imperial Fists. Their power armor is gunmetal grey with black helmets and shoulder pauldrons. Their Chapter symbol is a black shield. Their battle cry is "Vigilance! Courage! Vengeance!" or "Assault, Death, Silent as the Swan." Their specialty is siege warfare!!! (Omega: Are you sure they're Dorn's boys? Not Perturabo's?)
[INQUISITORIAL NOTE: COVENANT OF FIRE]
A successor Chapter of the Salamanders, created by Archmagos Belisarius Cawl during the Ultima Founding. Cawl created this Chapter without informing the Salamanders. When the Salamanders learned of their existence, they contacted them and sent a Chapter Chaplain to teach them the Promethean Cult. The Covenant of Fire eagerly accepted it and quickly applied the wisdom of their gene-sire, Vulkan!!! As an Imperial Chapter, the Covenant of Fire thirsts for any Imperial knowledge they can fight for and seeks it wherever they can. In the process, the Chapter hopes that this information will help them bring light to the darkness, but conversely, they will purge any signs of heresy they discover, as they know that such knowledge only leads to destruction. The Chapter's symbol is an open book with a golden flame burning in the center!
(Omega: Isn't that Chapter symbol... wait a minute... are they trying to build a perfect city for the black uncle?! Archmagos Cawl is awesome!)