[b]The Grand Reception Hall, concurrently...[/b]

[hr]
While the other Primarchs and their retinues retreated to the back area to dance, Augor Astren and his own companions had instead been sweeping amongst the ranks of the Legio Princeps attending the gathering - very few of whom had any interest in the indulgent levity the party of dancers were now pursuing. The Baron Sigveyr had been discussing at length, if in a somewhat somber fashion, with Princeps Maximus Horgoth of the Legio Suturvora, the Fire Masters.

“...I am open to being persuaded. I am not convinced the endeavor will be one worthy of the Fire Masters’ efforts, Knight Baron.” Horgoth rumbled. “You will doubtlessly be capable of swaying over many other Princeps and God Engine Legions to your cause. What would be left for our own glory?”

“From what I have been told, honorable Princeps, this Eldar Craftworld is the size of a small planet.” The Baron answered after having turned a faint, seemingly knowing glance to his servo-skull. “Although it is difficult to tell from pure remote augur readings, the Ordo Astranoma’s Logis are convinced there must be massive expanses contained within its interior - perhaps amounting to many times the surface area of any celestial body of equal size due to its volumetric architecture. Even if not, the exterior of the craft is considerable in size and there are many large Aeldari webway gates mounted upon the hull. It is almost a certainty that Eldar Titans will be present - in force.”

“Doubtlessly.” Horgoth agreed. “Though I still fail to see how battling them rather than embarking on another campaign is preferable for our purposes. The Fire Masters are a venerated and renowned Legion of God Engines, Knight Baron. There are many pressing, perilous, and glorious campaigns that call to us.”

“Well,” The Baron began with a faint smile, “Although I do not doubt that, consider these two points. Firstly, the Eldar are by far the most advanced and the greatest of those adversaries who remain to contest the control of Humanity in the galaxy. This craftworld of theirs - they hold it to be sacred, venerated much in the same way we venerate Terra and Mars. They will assemble their mightiest forces to defend it. Your opponents shall be amongst the most peerless to have ever been faced, and the glory to be gained through the conquest of their work shall be equally exalted.”

Horgoth stroked his chin thoughtfully at that, clearly won over despite his grudging attempts to appear unphased. “I see. The second reason?”

The Baron answered simply by taking a single step to the left and gesturing grandly towards the far end of the room. Several meters away, the Archmagos Mephitor was holding court with a flock of more than a dozen Princeps at once, clustered and clamoring about him. Counted amongst them were many of the College Titanica’s Legions that had retained their strong bonds to the Mechanicum - some even remained openly and unapologetically loyal to Mars and its principles. Though the entirety of the College Titanica was nominally an extension of the Mechanicum proper, its Legions were granted such tremendous autonomy and were often desperately curried with for favor that their actual priorities and loyalties tended to be diverse. Many of the Princeps of those Titan Legions that still held closer allegiance with the Cult Mechanicum than the Imperium Writ Large had already freely approached the Archmagos to pledge their efforts to his devises - amongst them were Princeps from the Legio Vulturum, the Legio Magna, and the Legio Kydianos. Even a few Princeps from Legions nominally more distanced from Mars, such as Princeps Indias Cavalerio of the Legio Tempestus, one of the Legions of the Triad Ferrum Morgulus, had approached and was listening in on the conversation intently.  Also counted amongst the gaggle of Princeps was Tesarius Orcan, another member of the Legio Suturvora - who was already speaking animatedly with the Tech-Priest.

“Mars has just as great an interest in this campaign as does the Omnissiah.” The Baron voiced after giving Horgoth a moment to take in the scene. “And many of the most famed and celebrated of Titan Legions are expected to take part. To be absent might evoke the wrong sort of sentiment.” Horgoth merely nodded in response.

Augor Astren himself had approached an unlikely pair - the Princeps Tesarius Solomere and Raynal Hess of the Legio Lysanda. Their Titan Legion was one mostly known for its safeguarding of the outermost fringes of Imperial Space amongst the Eastern boundaries, and thus had few campaigns of glorious repute to its name despite its substantial size and exemplary service.

“The Stars themselves shine for your glory, honored Princeps.” Augor intoned, making a two-handed cogwheel gesture as he approached. The two Princeps exchanged a glance before Tesarius replied. 

“Blessed be your countenance, Holy Primarch. Though we are honored by your notice, I am afraid the duties of our Legion-” Augor interrupted him by proffering a hand.

“You are correct.” He began. “Though the Legio Lysanda is more deserving than most of the glory and honor of the great campaign the Ordo Astranoma has planned, your steadfast devotion to your duty is more glorious and honorable still. Few know better than I the treachery and abominations that lurk in the furthest reaches of the dark, beyond the light of the Omnissiah. Fewer still know the horrors that your Legio have faced and thwarted, time and time again, rarely to receive recognition for your efforts. The Stargazers Legion has borne witness to your stalwart defense of the Imperium and to your peerless vigilance. Many times, you have been one of the only forces to come to the aid of my Children’s Macroclade Fleets, and many times have the Stargazers assembled and heeded your calls for aid in turn. I did not come to ask the Legio Lysanda to partake in the Campaign against the Eldar.”

Augor then bent low on one knee and inclined his head before the two Princeps, who stood, struck with shock before him - much as were many others surrounding them as they turned and noticed the unusual motion from the Twelfth Primarch.

“Know that you and yours shall always have an ally in me and mine, Princeps of the Legio Lysanda. Into the furthest and darkest reaches of space, we shall stand fast with you against all challengers.”

The Princeps simply stood, still too evidently sticken to reply even as the Primarch rose from his knelt posture, returning to his full stature. “I knew it would be improper of me to see to any other matters here before I had the opportunity to speak with you.” He stated in an exultant and serene tone. “If there is anything I or the Ordo Astranoma can do to service your own purposes, works, and holdings - do not hesitate to tell me, or any of my Legion’s Lord Commanders.”

“...That is…” Raynal Hess started hesitatingly before falling silent once more.

“...The Legio Lysanda does indeed have a rapport with the Stargazers Astartes Legion, holy Primarch.” Tesarius finally managed. “Moreso, I must admit, than with any others of the Children of the Omnissiah. Though we were unaware until now of the true extent of that rapport. It would be imprudent of us to make requests of you and yours given the scope of the campaign you are about to undertake.”

“Perhaps so.” The Twelfth Primarch nodded. “Though I can think of an opportunity that your Legio may find worth in. The so-called Librarian Crusade - it shall be venturing into the fringes of space in the Segmentum Obscurus. Many of the worlds there have recently fallen prey to externally incited insurrections. Their Compliance shall shortly be assured of course, but an adamant force capable of holding and keeping those worlds would be invaluable in the course of the Campaign, and many of my siblings would not fail to take notice of such efforts…”

Not far from where the Ordo Astranoma was engaged with the representatives of the Collegia, a smaller gathering had formed around the envoys of the Abyssal Lurkers. The spawn of the Ninth, utterly indifferent to the heart and splendour of the celebration, had set to assembling those who, like them, ruminated designs of bloodshed and destruction even on the brightest of days. Though the deep-dwellers lacked the sway that true adherents of the Machine Cult wielded among certain Titan Legions, there were those who, in memory of past campaigns fought at their side and for the amicable ties of the Dronemaw with the clergy of their native Forge Worlds, were disposed to lend them their ear for a spell. There stood with them Principes in the red and teal liveries of the brutal Legio Laniaskara, their features daubed with ritual paints whose designs obscurely encoded rank and accomplishment. Others donned the black and beiges of the impiteous twin Legios of Xana, Vulturum and Kydianos, not all of whose scions had gone to join Mephitor of the Stargazers. Their bodies were marked by a profusion of strange augmentics unusual for those of their station, and the quiet, oddly unassuming figures of their brethren of the House Malinax hovered ever nearby.

“...An enemy with glorious promise and hidden potential,” Iuvris was mechanically rattling to a semicircle of Xanites as Thenal sipped from his glass behind him, having already refilled it with increasingly mismatched bits and bites a few times, “We know they hold strange and potent technologies, but none such that they cannot be overcome. A golden medium. Once we strike at their parasitic domain, they will have no recourse but to meet us in the field, where their flesh may be worthy witness to the artifices of the Vodian savants.”

“That is all well and good,” the Princeps Ultima of the Gore Crows, Scrindus Tepfra, answered in harsh and haughty tones. Steely cords of bionic muscle rose from under his ashen skin where it was bared, and one of his eyes was a cybernetic speculum. “But pray tell, what sets these Nephilim of yours apart from the Eldar that some of our Seniores are already frothing to quash? They, too, will be driven to us by desperation, and so too they are fresh targets for the Legio’s arms.”

“Two things, regent of the God-Machine,” Iuvris raised his twofold arm, claws held up on each hand, “The Eldar are not armoured in pride alone. They are elusive like mercury, covered in simulacra and shields of unholy invention. It might be fascinating to record how the wrath of your engines would collide with their defenses, but true impacts upon the reviled xeno form would be all the rarer. Elimination is our final goal, not merely to sweep aside illusory wards. Let those less dedicated to the true depths of battle do away with them.”

Tepfra narrowed his one eye as he crossed his arms. “And the other?”

“Unlike the Eldar, these beings rule over the lost and the condemned. Supplicants perverted by communion with the xeno, eagerly bearing the yoke that binds them. A blight on the face of mankind that must be cleansed. Only a truly devoted spirit could summon the humility to scourge the chaff once the blade of the enemy is blunted, but I know for a fact that our company is not lacking in such paragons.”

The Princeps Ultima inclined his head, his eye still squinting with suspicion, though a shadow of a grin seemed to briefly dance at the corners of his mouth. “That might be, Expergefactor, that might be. But I know just as well that the Archmagos-Procurator would be greatly displeased if we did not lunge for the chance to temper the Crows’ talons in the blood of prey as formidable as Eldar,” his voice briefly lowered, taking on a confidential tone, “To say nothing of Magister Scoria.”

Iuvris seemed about to reply when Thenal spoke up from behind him. “The Third Tempest would hold it an honour to march alongside the hallowed regents in the sack of Iris. Yet, surely it would be to the Vodian Consistory’s satisfaction if his wardens could assay both the Eldar and those world-harvesters at once.”

Tepfra stood pensive for a moment, before beckoning one of the Kydianos Principes to the side and quietly conferring with them, their voices lost in the pervasive murmur of the crowd. In their absence, the Expergefactors turned their allurements to the younger Xanites.

Over behind the Techmarines’ backs, Issnos Traal was trading signs for the Laniaskaran Principes’ words. A few of them kept appraising gazes glued to his bone talons, apparently more intrigued by the nature of the trophy than by what the Equerry was spelling out with it.

“Why call on us for this then, blood of Carcinus?” a wiry Valian by the name of Aleyte, half her face covered in a jagged pattern of ceremonial crimson paint, was then asking, “If these parasites you hunt are not great enough to cut down with our blades, if their machines are too puny to face us foot to foot? What use do you have for our packs?”

[i]The xenos’ war machines could prove great foes still for all we know,[/i] Traal gestured in reply, [i]There is more. Have you ever struck down -[/i] his motions became slower, but sharper and more deliberate, as if he were making sure he would clearly convey an unusual meaning, [i]- an edifice that lives?[/i]

“A living building?” Aleyte exchanged puzzled glances with her fellows and shook her head, “We Impalers have bled dry beasts that might as well be fortresses, and we have shattered engines that moved whole citadels to battle. Do you mean something that’s neither of those?”

[i]Indeed,[/i] the Equerry signed, once more at his usual pace, [i]We have seen their cities only from afar, but our scans have found vast presences inside them. High towers of metal matched to strong flows and surges, psychic force. We do not know if they truly live, but they were built by predators of the mind.[/i]

“That would be something for the priests to figure out,” the Valian shrugged, “What is and isn’t life is a question of doctrine, not for us to solve.”

[i]Nor for us,[/i] Traal convened, [i]Our duty is to conquer. Only sometimes the galaxy surprises us with some freakish new obstacle.[/i]

“And what wouldn’t many give to be the first to spill new blood,” Aleyte nodded pensively.

Time passed, the Princeps and the retinues of the Primarchs all commingling amongst each other as vows and promises were exchanged amidst speculation and intrigue. Nearly all of the Princeps at the function knew of each other by reputation if nothing else, and drew to each other almost instinctively - and around their would-be patrons and allies or otherwise. All save for one.

Princeps Calvar Ibranum of the Legio Xestobiax felt almost as if he did not belong in the stateroom. The God-Engines of his order were few, their accomplishments unsung in anticipation of their occurence, and the Princeps’ robes unadorned and practically spartan in decorations and honors. As the Legio Xestobiax had only just recently been declared Officio Fidelitas, Calvar had barely even managed to secure admittance to the event. Three quarters of the Administratum drones and clerks he had been forced to confront had never heard of him or the Legio Xestobiax - even those who made it their business to know of the Titan Legions.

It thus came as something of a shock when he heard his own name volleying towards him from both sides as two strangers seemed to erupt outwards from the surrounding crowd with scarcely any warning.

“Princeps Ibranu-” Baron Sigveyr paused, coming up short with his servo-skull pulling an equally abrupt braking-maneuver in the air as he came face to face with the comparatively towering form and unsettling voice of Thenal of the Ninth Legion.

“My apologies, Lord Astartes.” The Baron eventually managed with a clipped tone as he recovered. “In my haste I must have overlooked your approach through the crowd.”

“Trouble yourself not, illuminate,” the Expergefactor raised a hand, along with a cluster of mechadendrites on the same side, in a conciliatory gesture, “Chance has a way of levelling us when allowed to run unbridled. Regent,” he nodded in greeting to Calvar, before returning his gaze midway between the two Throne-pilots. “The paths of causality appear to have crossed at your feet.”

“I would do well to aprise my master of the notice of the Ninth Legion, Lord Astartes. We did not expect much-” The Baron’s gaze turned to Calvar and his voice halted. After a momentary pause and a motion to clasp his hands behind his back, the Baron resumed. “I take it the Ninth Legion sees potential in the Legio Xestobiax, then?”

“It is the custom of my brethren to plumb the most occult deeps, and never to dismiss the promise hidden in the youngest of growths,” Thenal replied, four of his flexible metallic limbs bending into the shape of a helix, “But alas, rarely do they turn such patient looks upon the works of the machine. It was the initiative of my own order to probe the talents of the Legio, that we may determine if they could flourish in the shadow of a rapport. Do our kin of the Astranoma have a design of their own for their and the Xestobiax’ mutual enhancement?”

“Less a design and more of an opportunity, Lord Astartes, one which I imagine we are all well-informed of. It would likely be best if you made your proposal first so that we might spoil the good Princeps for choice.” The Baron turned a wry smile up to Thenal. “And I confess I have an interest in what you might wish to discuss with him in turn.”

“So be it,” the Expergefactor nodded and turned his helmet to the Princeps. “Regent, by the will of the Ninth Legion, be it known that we offer unto you and yours a chance to unveil your might to the Imperium on fields of little risk and great reward. Once this conclave is sealed by the Omnissiah, our brothers will strike against the xeno-dominion of Melchior. It is not a threat we estimate to be formidable, for great forces will march alongside us, but it offers ample bloodshed and glory in the eyes of our allies and mankind at large. If the duty of battle calls to you, you will find it a worthy anvil to forge the first syllables of your name.”

Calvar nodded in response. “A sound and prudent offer. Though it begs the question of what opposition you are expecting that your campaign would benefit from the intercession of the Legio Xestobiax’ god engines, Lord Astartes.”

“The full extent of the hostile forces is unknown,” Thenal thrummed, “We have reason to suspect that Melchior may be but the latest conquest of an expansive xeno empire, and that it is defended by potent weapons its rulers do not deign to unveil for lesser skirmishes. The presence of your consecrated eidola may prove a great benefit if harsher resistance should arise unaccounted-for, and there is fame to be gained in thus braving the mysteries of the galaxy.”

Calvar then turned to look at the Baron. “I trust it is no slight to presume you intended to invite my engines to join the order of battle in the siege to be waged against Iris.”

“Indeed. That is very much what I came to offer to you.” The Baron admitted. “I will not lie to you - the adversaries we shall face will be some of the greatest the Imperium has ever known, but you would not be fighting alone. A number of other Legios shall be present as well, amongst many other allies.”

Calvar appeared to mull this over for a moment before speaking once more. “Lord Astartes - as your counterpart indicates, the forces of the Eldar are quite formidable - but they are, in this circumstance, the devil we know, and were I to commit my engines to that campaign I would have the support of other Legios as well as the opportunity to establish rapport with them. Your campaign, while intriguing, promises a great many unknowns - some mysterious far-flung xenos influence beyond the pall of what is known. Why would you prefer the Legio Xestobiax in this scenario, as opposed to a more blooded house?”

“The god-engines of your host would not march alone,” one of Thenal’s mechadendrites pointed up, “My brothers are working to sway the wardens of Xana and Valia-Maximal to those undertakings. The attendant clergies of their cradles are accomplished, and to forge bonds with them on the battlefield would be a rare privilege.”

Calvar’s frame seemed to go rigid at the mention of the two names. “I see.” He said, his tone suddenly frigid. “I will have to give this matter some thought - I will let the both of your legions know of my decision before the night is out, of course.” He nodded to both the Baron and Thenal in turn, if somewhat stiffly. “If you will excuse me.”

The Princeps then broke away from the both of them and headed directly into the crowd of guests - and if it appeared to the Baron and Thenal that he was heading rather deliberately towards the congregation of Princeps crowded around Mephitor, neither of them made mention of it.

“I suppose we are left to await his word then, Lord Astartes.” The Baron directed to Thenal in a tellingly consolatory tone. “Though you have piqued my curiosity in the meantime. I have heard rumblings of the xenos in the Melchior region - these so-called ‘Nephilim‘’ myself. The Ordo Astranoma has had a number of notices concerning the possible turning of Genetors to the formulation of a new pogrom plague - but I did not known that campaign had risen to the level of multiple Titan Legions deigning to involve themselves.”

“Nor has it, illuminate, or not insofar as I am permitted to know,” the Expergefactor seemed unconcerned by the display of Calvar’s departure, the serpentine hive of his appendages  shifting and stirring at ease, “I have heard of them fielding strange and unholy mechanisms, devices and biomorphs that reduce entire worlds to servitude, but for all their impure artifice they have thus far not shown themselves able to overtly match the true gifts of the Machine God. Yet the forces of our Legion will be divided in their sacred task. Where isolated Tempests may prove insufficient against the multitudes of the inhuman, the god-engines will find ample chance to cover themselves in blood and glory. Man and machine complete each other, a truth that our leaders have been regrettably slow to acknowledge.”

He made a curious sign with his hands - almost a Cog Mechanicum, but strangely sharp and convoluted - before glancing down at the Baron. “Were it that all could be as enlightened as the revered Lord Astren.”

The Baron seemed lost in thought, almost perturbed, to the point where the flattery flew completely by him. “Word of such [i]profuse[/i] and particularly blasphemous Heretech is worrisome - and with such rotten timing as well. Ordinarily I would offer to arrange for a number of the Twelfth Legion’s Macroclades to join the campaign, but with this Craftworld Siege we are stretched precariously thin. Those fleets of the Ordo Astranoma not being committed to the Iris Campaign are being consigned to indefinite regional patrol or custodial watch over particular sectors. Even my homeworld of Caelrulmoste, which is in the Dominion of Storms - a figurative stone’s throw from Last Light itself - is going to have to fend for itself for the duration of the campaign.”

“No doubt the Lord Primarch will have accounted for the particulars of such a distribution, though even the sharpest minds can be hampered by the limitations of the tools at their disposal,” Thenal nodded, “The Dominion of Storms marks one of the outermost boundaries of the Imperium in a region I know of as turbulent. Are there truly so few concerns about incursions from those fringes that have yet to be annexed?”

“There are plentiful concerns, Lord Astartes, but Caelrulmoste is a Questor Mechanicum world. What little infrastructure is present there has bite enough to swallow any reavers that would venture there.” The Baron appeared to hesitate as his servo skull drifted in close and almost seemed to murmur in his ear conspiratorially. “...Though there has been trouble in that region that we were not able to investigate or deal with in a timely fashion prior to the arraigning of the Iris Campaign. There was even an entire Aspirant Mechanicum Colony on the world of Altus Ferro that had to be abandoned recently due to reaver intrusions threatening the security of the region.”

“An Aspirant Colony.” Thenal’s upper mechadendrites rose in a quizzical curl like so many stirring cobras, “What sort of marauders could be dangerous enough for a settler force of the Cult to withdraw entirely, illuminate? Voidfaring xenos or nomad fleets?” 

“The latter - their fleets have had encounters of some varying success with the Imperial Navy of course, but peculiarly every report of their confrontations with the Imperial [i]Army[/i] upon any planetary theater claims they are nearly unstoppable. They have some nebulous and allegedly indestructible form of warmachines they are reputed to use, but intelligence is contradictory and unilluminating.” The Baron waved a hand in a gesture of vaguery. “But the region has always been a low priority - filled with nothing but barren planets and uninhabitable sectors. Even Altus Ferro is an ice world - or it perhaps has frozen oceans, I am not certain which. There were always more pressing fronts of the Great Crusade. So when word came that the same reavers were threatening the area and that there were no nearby fleets to safeguard the nascent Forges…” The Baron shrugged. “The Tech-Priests there did not have the resources or forces to withstand even a token invasion force, let alone one with an unbroken record of ground victories against the Imperial Army.”

“Hostiles with middling naval strength and planetside superiority fall within the category of threats the Legiones Astartes are most efficient in eliminating,” Thenal mused, “And such potent war-machines bear investigation by the Cult Mechanicum. It is unfortunate that this presence should have remained below notice until a time when the focus of mankind’s strength is directed elsewhere.”

“As you say, Lord Astartes.” The Baron agreed. “It will likely be prioritized once the Iris Campaign has concluded, or perhaps some other Legion will chance nearby and elect to deal with them, though personally I doubt it. There is nothing in that drift of space of much interest to the Legions other than Altus Ferro itself.”

“That may be so, but much is concealed from our imperfect sight,” the Expergefactor folded his fingers together in contemplative posture, “This reaver activity might be a portent of a greater menace. They could have planetary holdings in the uncharted zones of the Drifts, perhaps a supply line or even production facilities. Numerous organised territories subjugated during the Crusade were initially misidentified as populated by nothing but irregulars. Even if that were the case here, a demonstration of force is warranted after their encroaching on an Imperial colony.”

Several of Thenal’s mechadendrites pointed forward, and downwards, in the Baron’s direction, even as his hands remained joined.

“You scarcely need to tell me, Lord Astartes.” The Baron stated confidingly. “According to the Ordo Astranoma’s Logi, 98% of all Imperial space and territories remain unsurveyed, and more than 95% remains entirely unexplored. I cannot count the number of marvelous and malign surprises in those dark sectors of what is supposedly our own realms the Ordo Astranoma has uncovered - not that we receive any recognition or respect for it, as even some amongst the sacred Children of the Omnissiah have made more than evident.” The Baron seemed to cast his gaze in the direction of the open-floor when the Primarch Sekhemetara held council of her own, but just as quickly he shook his head and turned his notice back to Thenal. “I speak out of turn, of course, and you very much have the right of it Lord Astartes. The days of the marauding reavers in that stretch of space are numbered, though this period would evidently be the figurative Summer of their endeavors.”

“The way of our Orders is often a thankless one, illuminate, even among those we would call our brothers,” Thenal assented with unexpected wistfulness, a tendril subtly nodding towards where Traal, the Equerry, still gathered together several Principes, “But from the weakness of the mind the anima delivers us.” He made another sign, this one even more arcane and not quite comparable with anything in Martian liturgy.

“As steel we must be resolute in our calling. My voice is merely that of one adept among them, but my brethren of the Ninth may judge the invasion of Altus Ferro worthy of their intervention should they learn of it. I shall inform the Imbrifices. Let it not be said that we have not done what we could to ensure that order reigns in the Omnissiah’s domain.”

“If anything comes of your word in this matter, do let the Twelfth Legion know. I am certain the Mechanicum would be pleased to go where the light of the Omnissiah’s Legions are carried and I suspect they would be generously disposed towards whomsoever manages to retake Altus Ferro, and we would be pleased to convey your word to those orders that were displaced.” The Baron bowed his head to Thenal. “If you will excuse me, Lord Astartes - I imagine we both have business we should continue to pursue.”

“Duty is eternal, illuminate,” the Expergefactor replied, “May the spirits ever be propitious to you.”

With yet another esoteric sign, he turned and heavily stalked away into the crowd amid a scraping and clattering of metal.