Chapter 166 From the sky above the watchtower, the metal heart of the empire is burning
The Emperor, the one who protects the empire; the God of Machines, the god who rules over machines
The spirit of machinery and the secret of technology are better than the physical body;
Praising the clever spirit is your vocation, guarding the clever spirit is the basis of your happiness, and appeasing the clever spirit is the basis of your survival.
Without dogma, the mechanical spirit cannot help.
Ring the bell once!
Push the lever to activate the piston and pump!
Ring the bell twice!
Press the button to start the engine, ignite the turbine and breathe life into it!
Ring the bell three times!
Sing in unison to praise the God of all opportunities!
Under the words of the loyalists of the Mechanicus, people's hearts gradually stabilized. In the expressions of those poor refugees, the sages saw fear and loneliness.
Since the light and gift of the Ohm Messiah shined on this world, such a large-scale conquest has never happened again. In comparison, the invasion of the Red Pirates and Orcs caused little loss due to the bravery of the Skadi soldiers, which is ridiculous. What's more, the governor of this world's own purge order caused flames to burn in many places in this world.
Ridiculous, sad, it has never rained on Panlan and it never will. Once upon a time, in a distant new era when it was just known to mankind, when Pan Lan was still alive, strong storms tore through its surface, carving out river channels on the rocks, and shaping the continuous coastline from the steep cliffs. into towering mountains.
Then the world experienced its first death, turning the entire planet into an empty red wasteland of dusty basins and pitted, scorching deserts.
Then, the red planet revived again.
In the earliest years of humanity's Golden Age, the terraforming project ostensibly brought new life and hope to Panlan. But in the end, this proved to be a temporary solution rather than a permanent solution. In just a few centuries, Panlan died a second time, suffocated by the exhaust fumes of countless combined foundries, continent-sized factories, and the crafting of millions of weapons.
"It never rained on Panlan." This is what any living person who inhabited this forge world would say about her dryness.
But today, compatriots are slaughtering each other, blood is splashing everywhere, the bright red liquid is splashing on the hive city, the weapons of the heavy servitors are cracking the heads of mortals, and the blood is spilled under the statue of the God Emperor on the street. It has never been rained before. There was a rain of blood in the Forge World of Rain at this moment, those terrible things were sprinkled on the Emperor's statue in front of him, and bright red tears fell from his cheeks, because the Imperial humans stupidly slaughtered each other.
The Mechanical Sage mobilized his database, holding many supplies in his hands, mostly food. His eyes were filled with the taste, nutritional elements and other miscellaneous indicators of the food. During this period, he learned Quite a few things, especially for mortals.
He began to record what foods humans should eat, what nutritional supplements they needed, and what things they should have to help them in their daily lives.
He is almost a semi-special profession, a nutritionist that has been almost forgotten by human society, or something even more special.
It’s hard to imagine that at the end of this dark forty millennium, anyone could care so much about the thoughts of mortals, but after the reconstituted food that was a combination of meat and vegetables and tasted normal was distributed, the exhausted and poor soldiers finally felt that they were a handful. Much warmth.
Although the sage's skills are far from good, and the food he makes is far from the delicacies enjoyed by the nobles. All he can do is heating and matching, but that kind of care is what most people in the empire want. It's something I haven't enjoyed since I was born in the womb.
Many people even began to call this strange member of the Mechanicus who did not know his gender as mother or father, but everyone's official name for him was still military titles such as director of command or governor of command.
Of course, he didn't care about the sage, and his job was only to provide all the help he could give. After all, he was definitely not a professional in terms of command.
But sometimes war is not about command, but about the morale of the soldiers. Within three days of the start of the Great Purge, a large number of data craftsmen, governing sages and even the director of the Fourth Hongzhi also joined the resistance team one after another. , the "official" power of the Mechanicus even gradually began to be lower than their group of "heresies".
And he also commanded the Second Hongzhi Special Guard Corps composed of a large number of mortals to give the iron fist representing the Ohm Messiah to those who slaughtered their compatriots.
The departure of the ruling sage also means that the morale of the Advocate Mechanicum's Guard Corps has dropped. To be precise, those servitors do not have much independent ability.
Generally, only some Alpha-level veteran captains can still maintain a small amount of judgment in complex situations and changing battlefields.
The Adeptus Mechanicus relies on the control and orders of the ruling mages and countless war protocols that come and go to maintain the agility and changeability of the huge Skitarii Legion.
The sage's betrayal will not only take away the soldiers of the Skitarii, but also reduce the execution ability of those legions that are still serving the "official" army. The director's actions during this time have angered many people, not just mortals. The sage who was close to mortals, at this moment, even his cronies began to turn against him.
Today's Mechanicus troops no longer have the same unified and powerful dispatching capabilities as before, and their tactical flexibility is also much worse. In contrast, their so-called heretical troops are lean and small, and they occupy several factories and residential areas. They have plenty of supplies, but the only problem...
When the sage looked up, he saw the light curtains and explosions in the sky caused by the exchange of fire between the Mechanical Education research barge and the Imperial Navy. From time to time, there were also the automatic cannon turrets that fired at the Imperial Navy's reconnaissance assault ships, and the faint streaks across the sky. of the Imperial Navy's military power.
That is the current Sword of Damocles, telling everyone that time is running out. The Imperial Navy will break through here, anytime, anywhere. There is no dock in this world, which is why the Imperial Navy did not hesitate to choose Order of extermination.
Pan Lan is certainly important, but now that several business roads have been opened up, and even just individual weapons, Gondwa VI can provide enough. Compared with sacrificing the lives of loyal Imperial Guards and the Red Pirates in the Void or the new The time when the alien threat comes.
An extermination order is not only efficient, but will not lose the minerals inside Panlan. Perhaps depending on the implementation standards they choose, the minerals in this world may become easier to mine.
In comparison, the lives of trillions of servitors and mortals are not even as valuable as the factories in this world and the hive cities that cover the sky and spread across the equator like a continent.
When you are in the same boat as a heretic and want to prove your loyalty again, the only way is to sacrifice and die. Use war and victory to wash away the stupid actions of your previous compatriots until the empire recognizes your sacrifice and praises you. Behavior.
The loyalists in this world now have no choice. If they want to return to the warm, shaky and cruel collective of mankind, they must pave the way with blood and death, even if this is not their choice.
In the camp, the sage's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by his adjutant. He was a former Astra Militarum, a bounty hunter hired by a businessman, but he was not serving a big guy like the Rogue Trader, but an ordinary planetary governor. .
The sage had never heard of his world before. After all, the empire was vast and spanned the galaxy. Even if his head was damaged, he would not be able to store all the data on the thousands of empire worlds.
But what impressed the sage most about the man wearing homemade military uniform and bulletproof armor was that he refused to use the uranium-burning flintlock or magnetic rail flintlock that can penetrate the outer shell of Space Marines that are normally provided by the Mechanicus. Armored weapons, while Paranoid demands the use of the Imperial Guard's lasgun.
The sage often finds it strange that something that can be produced by millions in a factory a day. The hive worlds and forge worlds he knows can produce laser guns, and the output is almost continuous, but the Imperial Guard Infantry Regiment only has There are about 50,000 people, or even less than the establishment.
Even if a conscription world has a long history, it is difficult to have more than a thousand infantry regiments born on it, not to mention that most hive worlds only have about a hundred regiment-level Imperial Guard output.
But with the laser gun in his hand, the sage can directly say that there are millions if not tens of millions, which is completely enough to arm a star system, not to mention that this is only the output of the factory he oversees for decades. Such a large factory There are hundreds of them in this forging world.
But the Imperial Guard is still in short supply of weapons, and it can even be said that it is almost permanently in short supply...
The sage shook his head. He was already roughly aware of how bad the empire was now, but now he still needed the empire's forgiveness, unless the imperial navy would cancel the release of the extermination order for no reason.
He said to his adjutant in the special voice of the adjusted grille. "I can feel that the spirit of machinery is restless, and war is coming..."
the adjutant replied. "Yes, brothers have polished their weapons and applied holy oil. Next, we still need to conquer about 30% of the city area to capture the inner streets."
He seemed optimistic, but the sage was worried about someone in his heart. "Can it be faster? The extermination order is about to fall. I don't think those pig-like things can protect this world for too long. The Imperial Navy will soon impose the punishment of Ohm Messiah."
The adjutant became a little depressed when he heard those three words. It is better to say that every Imperial person knows the meaning of the Extermination Order, no matter how much or how little your contribution to the Emperor is, no matter how great or how humble you have been. , after the anger of the empire fell, there were only the elimination of heretics and a few "memorials" for the martyrs.
But the adjutant said. "It's okay, Sir Director. I have experienced wars worse than today. The Tribunal also applied for an extermination order, but it was rejected."
In fact, the Empire's extermination order is not as easy to obtain as imagined. Instead, the extermination order requires the mobilization of the Imperial Navy, which requires compromise between the sector commander and the Ministry of Military Affairs. Depending on the execution area, there are also local Astra Militarum war lords and Aspen. With the permission of the Tate Order, it can even be said that as long as you are not really labeled as a heretic, and you have some voice and interests in the world, the extermination order can be postponed because of your concerns.
Because for the Empire, every world is unique. Treasures obtained with the blood of human beings and the smelting of war are the most precious and urgent foundation of the Empire. Unless it is really necessary to use an extermination order to prevent the worst case scenario, the Empire I will never use those extreme things.
But for the sage, what he was worried about at the beginning was not actually the extermination order. When he lowered his head and looked at the bolt gun in his hand, it was engraved with the name of the most important thing to him at the moment.
The mentality of a sage has actually gradually changed from a scholar to a warrior. There is no doubt that those who can become sages of the Mechanicus are talented and intelligent. In the Mechanicus, where the hierarchy is strict and the assessment standards are extremely difficult, even if there are people above, they are still needed. It takes a long time to accumulate the recognition of others and your own achievements.
Anyone who can become a sage is not stupid. Even from a mortal perspective, he is an absolute genius.
He was not, even before he met the Skadi people, he was arrogant, but what he had not accomplished for decades was completed by mortals. Then he fell into the quagmire of war, and was saved by mortals. He then realizes that arrogance is just the thing that corrupts him.
He said gently to his adjutant at this moment. "Yes, the extermination order will not appear too soon, but I also have personal matters... I have a daughter who lost contact with me in the deep area of the residential area three days ago. Her life and death are unknown now."
"Although my request is stupid, I will still say it. I need to use your precious lives to help me confirm this, so I became your commander..."
His words were apologetic, but the adjutant scratched his head. "Well, our goal is not for you. We just need to contact the Imperial Guard, provide them with traitor intelligence and ask them if they can pick up the survivors."
"Sir, our goals were the same from the beginning, but you thought too much, and the help you gave us was enough to make up for your so-called "selfishness". Who made delicious food when the soldiers were in pain and injured? Who sings the praises of the God of all opportunities when people are confused? ”
The adjutant said. "At this moment we are at the core of this world. This is a watchtower. As long as you look around from here, you can find that the world is burning now."
"Drying is also painful, but it will not let the flames burn. It is those heretics and traitors who draw swords on their compatriots, and the blood is like promethium because of the war, which ignites the world."
"Neither the aliens nor the Space Marine Traitors have done this, and we know very well that the war has
It's inevitable. ”
"Sir, command us, shoot at the enemy, don't hesitate, your fate has arrived..."
The sage's emotional controller fluctuated strongly at this moment. He did see that he was on a high, low-end and slender watchtower, in a flame that would never go out, and his compatriots, whether they were mortals or Mechanicus, , all wailing in pain, their blood drained by the war.
After a moment, the sage's eyes looked clear and cold outside the linen robe.
"Let's go to war, for the Om Messiah..." (End of this chapter)