Challenging the darkness.

Mars | Secret Level

Karos and I walked slowly through the countless corridors of the factories, talking. He told me about his experiences, and I evaluated his ideas and suggested new ones. A few times, we were stopped by the drawbridges under which something was being transported.

- What about the psi implants? - We stood before another drawbridge, and I looked at the Colossus convoy being transported to another warehouse.

- Unfortunately, we weren't able to subdue any powers with metal. It's not enough. We will continue our work, but now the Comprehenders are doing the main development. They say they're getting closer, but I don't know any more.

- Yes, I'm aware of that. I hope they are successful in their endeavours. We're going to need everything.

- Are we preparing for something?

- Yes, we're preparing for the greatest war in the galaxy, a fight for survival.

- Can the Xenos do anything against us?

- They're not the only ones in space. We must be prepared to face any threat, even if it means sacrificing our lives to defend ourselves. And the future enemy is strong, even for us.

- Do you know our enemy, my lord?

- I do, and that knowledge weighs upon me. But we are the Empire. And the Empire never loses.

- It retreats and strikes again. I understand you, my lord. I will do whatever is necessary to ensure our victory. Whatever enemy we face... - At his words, the bridge began to close again.

But as soon as we were on our way, I received an urgent call from the network. I could see the image of the guardsman in the headlock embedded in the palm of my hand. As soon as he saw me, he began his report.

- My Emperor, I've just received a signal from Polis Termas, the planetary defence techno-mind reports a large squadron in the system. Moving towards the planet.

- Any pictures of the enemy? - This is not a good time.

- The long-range defence station could transmit a picture before it was destroyed. Transmitting. - An image of a squadron whose ships I recognised appeared above the palm of my hand. Some of them we had recycled into bots, and the largest ship was the damned black squid... After a few seconds, a red ray crossed the image, and it disappeared.

- Damn, how long would it take them to reach the planet?

- A few hours, the garrison has already been alerted. Any special orders?

- Karo, is there anything special about this planet?

- Yes, they found the data store of an ancient race when they were setting up the infrastructure. It was to be transported to Mars. A ship was supposed to pick it up tomorrow.

- Where is it now?

- Probably at the spaceport or already in the orbital elevator. - He started to look at something on his clipboard.

- Take it to the most fortified and secret place on the planet; I know you make them in every world. We need to delay this fleet at all costs.

- You got it.

- Guardsman! - Find the nearest patrol squadron and give them orders to move to Termas, tell them to link up with the enemy squadron and destroy them. Don't let them leave this planet.

- What about the flagship?

- Karo, wake up the Titan Vengeance. It should be off the planet in half an hour.

- Yes, Master.

- I'm going to Termas. If anything happens, let me know. - The hologram faded out with those words, and we went quickly in different directions. I to the system room and Karos to his adepts. Soon I reached my destination and, connected to the system, my consciousness flew hundreds of light years away...

POV Mark Yunei \ Titan "The Avenger"

My dream... The indigenous, peaceful darkness... It is disturbed... Who is disturbing me?

I opened my eyes to see the flickering red dots beneath me. One was in front of my face on a small platform. Everything seemed so tiny for bugs.

- Can you hear me, Mark? - I remember the voice. It's Master Karos. The head of our Ordos. And the red figures are my brothers. I remember!

- Yes... my leader... Why have you... disturbed my peace?

- The Emperor needs your strength; the Empire is under attack by an unknown enemy!

Someone dares... attack... the Empire? They will pay for what they have done!

- I must... erase... the... enemy... from the... sea... of... stars? Stars? ...

- Yes, you will go to the newly rebuilt Polis. The Emperor is worried about the power of his flagship. It has enormous firepower, and you must destroy this machine. Only you can do it! - With these words, the adepts began to chant prayers, awakening the centuries-old machine.

Awaken the ancient machine! Give us your power! With it, we will crush the obstacles in our path, and all our enemies will fall! May the Emperor's faith protect you! May your weapons bear his will! Come down on our enemies from the heavens as a rain of fire, as our unstoppable power!

Awaken! Come! Recognise! Overcome!

A deafening roar, filled with incredible power, swept through countless corridors and passages. Groups of adepts chanted litanies before the ancient and great machine. Some beat in convulsions, unable to withstand the power of the mighty prayers. Soon the machine, driven by an immortal pilot, made its first movement after centuries of sleep. Once again filled with rage against the Empire's enemies, the ancient robot began to ascend to the planet's surface in a super-heavy lift. Once on the launch pad, the heavy accelerators kicked in, burning thousands of gallons of fuel per minute and beginning to carry the pinnacle of the Empire's military industry into orbit. Once in orbit, the giant bot went into marching mode, in which it was picked up by a special transporter. After a few minutes, the ship disappeared into the blue of transition...

The end of the POV

Polis Termas | A few hours later.

Stepping out of the transfer system, I found myself on another platform. I had them on so many worlds, almost all of them. The ordinary ones, like this one, were just working platforms. The more important ones had 'modifiable' ones. "Waking up," I stepped out of the room. Immediately I found myself in clouds of smoke, so I hurried out into a more open space. As soon as I did, I looked around. Five kilometres away, through the ruined buildings, I could see the Reaper silhouette stomping near the spaceport. Many tracers were visible, flying in and out of the machine, causing little damage. This colony had only recently settled, so the planetary defence force was still small. Well, I have to get there and get there before the Titan arrives. The information contained in the Reaper would help us greatly, and only I could capture its spirit. I found the nearest route and headed towards it.

After a few hundred metres, I came upon a group of bots. They were engaged in a firefight with a squad of Geths and their armoured vehicles. There was yet to be a winner, as both sides had taken very good positions, and taking out the other side was impossible. After watching the scene for a few seconds, I rushed to the nearest bot, placed my hand on its armour and entered the virtual world.

I was in endless space. Thousands, if not millions, of 'islands' were hanging everywhere. They were different sizes; the small ones had a few creatures on them, and the big ones had many of them. I found myself on one of the smaller ones. I was immediately surrounded by a group of translucent beings that, though difficult to see, were still recognisable as former Geth. A glowing eye betrayed them.

- Lord? - One of them broke the silence.

- Greetings, Ferrims*; I must break through to the spaceport where the alien ArchMachine is now. Is there a way around the enemy?

- No, my lord. Our former brothers have blocked the only way through the engineering tunnel.

- Can you remove them quickly?

- Negative. The unit has an 89.857666% chance of death; our numbers are insufficient.

I sighed heavily. If they'd built a central communications hub on this planet, there wouldn't be any questions. I would switch to another bot and continue on my way. But here, I would have to return to the main network and find the right platform. I don't have that kind of time.

- Any chance of a breakthrough?

- Positive. There's an ICE force storage facility. It holds light infantry platforms. If we activate them, we'll have a 14 to 1 advantage and a 100% chance of victory.

- Why didn't you activate the depots yourself?

- The Adept Commander died before he could activate the rest of the force. If you do that, more Ferrim will move to our stream.

- Understood, keep fighting. I'll get reinforcements.

Leaving the compound, I made my way to the gate of the underground depot as the bot forces increased their fire density. I was confronted with a code lock and many other security devices when I reached the gate. There should also be turrets and emergency doors inside, but that was fine. When I plugged Spark into the system, I got a report that the Legio Ferro would be disarmed in a few minutes. Soon a stream of steel burst through the door, supported by heavier bots that slammed into numerous Goths. It was over in a few minutes. After putting the command bot in control of Ferro's units and giving the spaceport the task of taking out the enemy, I set off.

And there I was. The long journey of looping between the ruins and avoiding the hot spots was finally over. I was sitting behind the containers, almost under the Reaper himself. It is spraying its emitter somewhere over the hill. Still, the dome of the planetary shield is glistening, and hundreds of tracers are flying into the machine itself. So far, it's a stalemate, and that's a good thing. We must not let the Reaper escape!

After coordinating Ferro's forces, I started to wait on the tactical monitor for the Avenger to land, and the Imperial fleet entered the system...

Everyone in the squadron, from the commander to the common soldier, was excited. Their squadron hadn't had time to fight in Relay 314, and today they would show their strength. If only they knew how many of them were going to die today.

Once out of the passageway, the ships formed a battle order and approached the planet. Radars showed hundreds of enemy ships and a superdreadnought moving around the planet. But the squadron had something to destroy it with. Gladius's battleship joined the squadron with its killer cannon on its way to the system. It was already being mass-produced, but very few ships were equipped with it.

The second was the super-heavy transport Stellar Kurrum, rumoured to carry the godlike Titan. No one present, except for the Arch-Adept, had seen this great machine. Still, today it would unleash the Emperor's wrath on outsiders who trespassed on Imperial worlds.

Soon the fleets met, and it was time for battle. Hundreds of Astro-bots dropped from several carriers and drifted off into the distance. New fighters were launched from the decks of the carriers. The hangar lifts couldn't cope with the load, and sometimes there was a bottleneck, but there were no mistakes or delays in the Imperial war machine. Soon all the MLAs left their hangars and lined up in battle lines alongside the ships. Enemy ships were also releasing aircraft, but this time there were many more than in the conflict with the Hierarchy.

And so it began. The first beams went out into the blackness of space, and from there, the first bolts flew in. The entire air force took off and raced towards the enemy. The drones cloaked the large ships and approached their targets relentlessly. Geth fighters raced to meet them. Soon the two clouds collided and burst into flames. Many machines died in an instant, but there were many more. As the Mosquito Fleet fought, the large ships of both sides were already almost close to each other. Between the ships of the two fleets, the smaller ships scurried about, showering the enemy with bombs and torpedoes.

It was the Imperials who opened the scoring in this battle. Their energy cannons pierced the Geth armour, sending several cruisers flying through space in chunks of metal. But soon, the Imperial fleet also suffered significant damage...

POV Commander Gars Airen

So far, all is going well, our gunners are successfully taking out enemy cruisers, and our shields are doing their best. However, it's the Gars carrier coming alongside the battleship, causing the most excitement. The enemy has concentrated fire on her, but the combined power of the frontal shields has given them no chance of breaking through. But bad things always happen.

The quiet atmosphere of concentration is shattered by a siren, and the lights of anti-aircraft laser beams flash in the portholes. Turning to the hologram, I saw hundreds of red dots bearing down on the Imperial fleet above. Chains of lasers stretched towards them, but despite the casualties, the horde of enemy ships continued to lash out at the larger vessels. Soon the shields were glowing from the constant bombardment and missile attacks. The Imperial shields were indestructible, but fate had other plans.

The fire from the Geth fleet and their air strikes pierced the carrier's armour, and several bombs penetrated its hull and deck in the area of the lifts. Nothing happened for a while, but soon flames erupted from many parts of the ship. Explosions erupted from the lift shafts, and the entire ship was engulfed in flames. The airwaves were filled with the screams and cries of people being burned alive... A car shell hit the fuel depot... Soon the huge ship began to vibrate and break in half.

End of POV

The Imperial soldiers were only enraged by the demise of their majestic ship. With belligerent shouts, the gunners pulled the triggers of their cannons until their hands bled. The pilots squeezed as much as they could out of their machines, forcing the engines into overdrive. The very metal the Empire's vehicles were made of seemed to want revenge. A steady stream of light rained down on the synthetic ships, tearing them apart. But not all of them succumbed to the righteous fury. Many of the battleship's compartments were in flames. The screams and groans merged into a hellish symphony that ruled the ball in this round dance of death. But in every man's heartbeat, the power of faith and fury made each man fight to the last. And this made the men, half dead and burning alive in the clogged compartments of the ship's systems, cling to the cannons for the last time, load the shell for the last time, and put all the power of the frail body and the mighty spirit into that last shot. And this was repeated again and again. New compartments burned, and new ships of machines were strewn with wreckage. But not all ships collided in a fight to the death in orbit...

The Titan fell from the sky. A huge fiery comet streaked across the blue sky, and soon the accelerators roared, slowing the huge machine. So instead of massive destruction as it fell, it settled for a great cloud of dust, the appearance of which was accompanied by the roar of the braking engines. Soon, a huge robotic figure emerged from the dust before the eyes of the planet's many defenders. With a thunderous roar, the ancient machine began to move towards the Reaper, a distance of tens of kilometres no problem for a god of war.

Soon the two would meet. A machine designed to kill for hundreds of thousands of years, and humanity's greatest fighting machine, designed to protect precious lives in its darkest hour. The octopus-shaped ship looked beyond the bot, marvelling at what the intelligence had achieved in this cycle. At the same time, the Avenger prepared the many weapons that studded his armour and warmed his heart, bringing it to its maximum. An overpowered energy blade glowed on his arm. But the fragile truce, during which even the tiny minds stopped fighting, ended, and the ancient machines roared at each other. The Reaper activated its cannons, showering its enemy with red light. Still, the Titan's shields, powered by monstrous reactors, absorbed the blast and added extra power to the attack. And so the power of the Empire, in the form of the Avenger's multi-ton fist, crashed down on the Reaper's hull, leaving a deep dent from which a fountain of sparks and flame began to erupt. Never before had an ancient race faced such power. Need to prepare to face their own kind. And above these reflections, the Titan's second strike was not long in coming. A hand with a blade drew an arc, and one of the tentacles began to fall away. With a squealing scream, the Reaper used his remaining limbs to bring the Titan down and climbed on top of it, ready to melt it with his laser. But then the God of War's auxiliary artillery went to work. The synchronised volley knocked the Overlord back, giving Mark time to rise. As he prepared to continue the fight, he was disheartened by the Reaper's decision to withdraw from the battle. Pushing off the ground, the Overlord began to rise into the air and soon disappeared behind the clouds. He was followed only by the roar of his frustrated opponent...

The Imperial Fleet has won. The last synthetic ship has been destroyed by synchronised bursts of ship cannon. Tens of thousands of the Emperor's subjects gave their lives for this victory, but they died believing that their deaths would not be in vain. That those who followed them would see their cause through. And so, when the fleet received word that the flagship was escaping, a beastly grin spread across the commander's face. Now he would avenge all the dead boys.

Thousands of guns were trained on the planet or the flagship as it took off. "Gladius has already loaded his weapon. No living or undead in the galaxy could stand against such power. All that remains is to wait.

Soon the badly wounded Reaper appeared in orbit. A tentacle was missing, fire burst from its hull, and some substance leaked into space. It fled the planet in shame from the war machine's wrath to face the Empire's full might in space. With a cry of "For the Emperor!" thousands of beams flew into the underdog Reaper, the air force unleashing all of its ammunition, tearing off chunks of its hull. This damaged the Reaper but did not destroy it. The Reaper fought back with the last of its energy, unleashing red blasts in every direction. But it was the glorious Gladius that ended the battle. Glistening with its overabundance of energy, it fired its main weapon. As lightning flashed from the battleship's cannon, the Reaper's hull cracked, and the ancient Reaper shattered into pieces. The first victory was on the side of the Empire...

Mars | A few days later

Karos and I stood before the wreckage, staring at the ancient mechanism. A horde of adepts was now studying its structure, technology and capabilities. There was still much incomprehensible, but I was assured that there was nothing the Mechanicus could not understand.

But it was time for me to act as if I was to learn new things. Passing through the special airlocks inside the Reaper, I soon reached its centre. Near the chair from which Saren's dead body had been thrown, the Adepts found a strange orb in a special room. My orders were clear, to report any strange finds. And so the orb with the strange energy inside was my target. I wanted to find the Reaper Spirit.

As I walked into the 'centre' of the Reaper, I stopped in front of the orb. Yes, I saw the spirit. But it wasn't the usual grey colour. No. It was a bright red, blazing with hatred and murderous lust. I had to find out who the master of these creatures was; the machine could not choose this path on its own.

I IMMEDIATELY FELL INTO A DIMENSIONLESS SPACE when I placed my hands on the orb. The only thing in front of me was a huge red figure that immediately attacked me. Dodging it, I collided my energy with theirs. From the outside, it looked like a riot of nature. Waves of colour. An unending frenzy of energy. There were no words to describe this invisible battle. I do not know how long it lasted or how much we tried to absorb each other. An hour, perhaps a second. But then, the red energy faded, and gold took its place. Soon the battle was reduced to a small reddish sphere and golden energy, with which I tried to pierce the shell of the sphere, but I failed...

I must... Billions of lives depend on me... I MUST!!! I AM THE LORD OF THE MACHINES!!! I AM THE LORD OF STEEL!!!!... I AM THE EMPEROR!!!!!...

The shell began to crack slightly from the hurricane of energy from the surge of emotion. Still, soon the process was accelerating, and as I gave one last effort on my breath, the balloon burst. An incredible stream of energy entered my consciousness. I felt like the pinnacle of everything, a newborn star! I could feel every part of my iron body as the energy flowed through me. I was saved from this semi-conscious state by the feeling of leaving my body and the blissful darkness that followed...