Chapter 506 - 506: A New Voyage

With everything on the Forge World wrapped up, Inquisitor Trasolh's fleet finished resupplying three months later and prepared to depart.

Over those three months, all of Kian's Knights were fully repaired, and their supplies were delivered.

The tanks, armoured vehicles, power armour, and all kinds of heavy weapons were restored to peak condition.

Then there was everything Tech-priest Boothe had secured for Kian.

Ten fifty-megaton nuclear warheads. Enough power armour and heavy weapons to re-equip all of Kian's infantry. Two Devourer-class shuttles. And a 3,000-strong Skitarii cohort.

When Boothe told Kian he'd gotten hold of a Skitarii cohort, Kian was floored.

Skitarii were troops belonging exclusively to the Adeptus Mechanicus. Every one of them was a heavily augmented cyborg, able to operate in environments no ordinary human could survive.

High heat, heavy radiation, thick clouds of chemical agents: anywhere regular infantry couldn't go, you could send Skitarii without a second thought.

They were more effective in combat than regular Astra Militarum troopers, too. An ordinary Guardsman carrying his own rations could fight continuously for two weeks at most.

A Skitarius could fight for years without resupply.

The high-capacity power cells inside their bodies were far more useful than the water and rations the Guard carried.

Their mechanical legs ran faster and longer than flesh ones. Their bionic eyes saw farther than organic eyes and had thermal vision.

Most importantly, their morale never broke!

Every Skitarius had a compliance override implanted in the brain. Anyone with the right access could take control of their bodies and send them, emotionless, on suicide missions!

This was an unexpected windfall. Three thousand little red-robes joining up instantly doubled the combat power of Kian's forces!

Right now, Boothe was ordering the little red-robes into the cargo holds packed body to body so they took up hardly any space, shipping them just like freight.

Kian watched from the side. It only took a dozen or so large cargo containers to hold more than three thousand of the little red-robes.

As long as they were forcibly powered down, they didn't even need air.

Kian asked, "How did you get your hands on Skitarii? Can they even just be given away? And the nukes! Well, well! I never thought you'd score me ten big mushroom clouds!"

Boothe said:

"My lord, you saved the world. Handled properly, getting these things in return was a trifle."

Incidentally, Boothe had by now turned into a giant mechanical worm, fifteen metres long and three metres high.

His body bristled with mechanical arms, laser cutters, and all kinds of other weapons.

As he put it, since he only had that little bit of brain left anyway, he might as well go full throttle down the road of mechanical ascension!

He'd started with the section of mechanical body Magos Ferrocore had left behind and bolted on a lot more equipment.

The small nuclear reactor inside Ferrocore's body put out an enormous amount of power, which let Boothe mount a huge number of laser weapons on himself.

He saw himself as a war beast and a mobile workshop.

When there was a war to fight, he'd mount all sorts of weapons on his body and wield them with his mechanical arms.

When there was machinery to fabricate, every one of his mechanical arms was a precision lathe, and every laser emitter was a laser cutter!

Kian told him to go all out and to just tell him whatever resources he needed.

Meanwhile, Shiv had brought Kian an unexpected windfall of his own.

He led a dozen or so thuggish-looking cyborgs over to Kian and introduced them:

"Boss! These three months I went down to the Forge World's Underhive and paid my respects at the local gang halls. Found a few stand-up guys who want to sign on with you!"

As he spoke, he shot a look at the dozen men behind him. The hulking cyborgs stepped forward as one and saluted, fist in palm.

"We humble outlaws wish to pledge ourselves to Big Brother Kian Voss!"

Kian asked, "And what are your talents?"

One big man said, "They call me Bruce. On the streets they call me the Hand-Chopper. My talent is building bionic arms."

Another big man said, "They call me Noddy. On the streets they call me the Leg-Breaker. My talent is building bionic legs."

Another big man said, "They call me Chulet. On the streets they call me Skin-'Em-Alive. My talent is making synthetic skin."

Kian waited until they'd all finished introducing themselves, then crooked a finger at Shiv.

"What'd you bring these guys for? If it's bionic limbs, our tech-priests can make those. That's overlap."

Shiv explained:

"It's different, Boss. You know what those tech-priests are like. Stiff as corpses. Fixing one machine takes them months.

"Ask them to invent something new and they'd rather die.

"But these gang scientists, their whole thing is anything goes. They've got no principles at all.

"Sometimes there'll be jobs the tech-priests can't do or won't do. You can give those to these guys!

"Sooner or later, you're gonna need people like this."

Kian's eyebrow twitched. Shiv had a point.

The augmetics on these gangers weren't standard pattern. They'd been cobbled together out of all kinds of random parts.

Kian felt he really did need a research team of his own that wasn't bound by Mechanicus dogma.

A gang of techs who'd stop at nothing and had no bottom line fit the bill perfectly!

With that thought, Kian burst out laughing.

"Great, great, great! I never thought such fine talents would join my crew. You honour me, brothers! From now on, we'll drink from big bowls, eat meat by the hunk, and split our gold and silver by the scale!"

...

Meanwhile, on the bridge of Inquisitor Trasolh's ship, Trasolh and Inquisitor Bruno of the Ordo Malleus met to discuss their next destination.

Inquisitor Bruno said:

"Lord Trasolh, the fleet is about to depart. Have you settled on your next destination?"

Inquisitor Trasolh answered with a question of his own:

"And you, Lord Bruno? Where do you plan to go next?"

Inquisitor Bruno said:

"I intend to go to Feudal World 481."

Inquisitor Trasolh's face turned suddenly grave.

"481? The feudal world that vanished into thin air?"

Inquisitor Bruno nodded.

"Yes. Feudal World 481 vanished eighty years ago. Its twelve billion people, and the planet itself, disappeared without a trace!

"No auspex can detect Feudal World 481. I suspect only daemons could accomplish such a thing. I must go and investigate!"

Inquisitor Trasolh thought for a moment. "Hm. Missing for eighty years. That's a great deal of unpaid tithe.

"Very well. Our fleet will continue to travel with you, and we'll investigate the disappearance of Feudal World 481 together!"

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