As the swarms of Iron Men mechanized units arrived at the breach, the Space Wolves were already locked in a brutal melee with a host of xenos constructs.
The refracted beams had not only ravaged parts of the hull but had also annihilated the mechanical units embedded within the ship's structure. To prevent catastrophic decompression, Axion had to maneuver his forces through the outer compartments in staggered waves; after all, the Void Sword still housed a vast number of living psykers within its hull.
Yet, this brief delay was enough for the Wolves to suffer for their impetuosity.
Unlike the Blackstone Fortresses the Imperium had discovered in ages past, this fortress was fully awakened and active, and it was hundreds of times larger than any Blackstone Fortress ever recorded. More importantly, this xenos bastion was teeming with automated defenders.
It was the first time the Astartes had encountered a fully active, swarming collective of Spindle Drones. These mechanical units, with their central monocular eye, bizarre triangular heads, and three recurved, piercing limbs at the base, had appeared in previously recovered Blackstone Fortresses, but most had remained dormant, with only a handful ever engaging Imperial forces.
However, as the Wolves' Thunderhawk gunships arrived, these Spindle Drones were scurrying across the interior of the fortress in droves. Peculiar mechanical units were using their sharp limbs to attempt to strip metal from the Void Sword's reinforced prow, while others were using their monocular eyes to sweep strange red rays across the damaged sections of the bastion. The repair efficiency of these constructs was staggering; though the principles behind those eerie beams remained unknown, the damaged sections of the fortress were visibly knitting themselves back together. It was this high-efficiency, alien restoration rate that was causing the xenos bastion to lock ever tighter against the prow of the Void Sword.
The arriving Thunderhawk gunships opened fire with lascannons and heavy bolters, strafing the grotesque clusters of machinery. After carving out a small landing zone, the Space Wolf warriors, whose physiques were even more massive than before, leaped directly from the rear ramps of the gunships.
They wore the power armour redesigned by Axion. Streamlined and form-fitting, the bulky power packs were gone, showcasing the terrifying manufacturing prowess of the Iron Men. Yet, many of the warriors were sent sprawling the moment their boots touched the deck. Among these Spindle Drones were larger core-command individuals. The strange xenos constructs operated via a hive intelligence.
The interior of the fortress seemed surrounded by a unique force field, keeping it bathed in foul, thin atmosphere rather than vacuum. Though the air was low in oxygen and tainted with exotic gases, it posed no hindrance to the Space Wolves in their power armour.
Waves of xenos drones advanced through the wide corridors of the fortress in a bizarre, undulating gait. Dense pulses of energy erupted from the rib-like structures on their flanks, a form of energy weaponry with strange kinetic attachments. Had the Wolves not collectively switched to the power armour provided by the Iron Men, they would have been far worse off than merely being knocked off their feet.
The Wolves, having been overturned by the concentrated fire, quickly scrambled to their feet, shaking their heads against the lingering dizziness of the impact. Their armour was pockmarked with tiny dents, and some plates even showed spiderweb cracks, yet the composite inner lining had prevented complete catastrophic failure. Having experienced the durability of their new armour firsthand, the Wolves let out a series of howls over the comms. Excitement began to spread through the pack.
The Wolves brandished their bolters and power claws, launching a counter-assault. Unlike the heavy ordnance of the Thunderhawks, these Spindle Drones proved remarkably resilient against standard bolter fire.
One of the Wolves' Rune Priests leapt from a Thunderhawk, shouldering a massive Arc Cannon. He had tested the weapon during training, but only when the Iron Men dismantled the Iron Warriors' fortress-world had the Wolves truly witnessed its devastating potential. The energized Rune Priest, assisted by several Wolf warriors, charged solo into a corridor still disgorging xenos units.
As a brilliant blue glow ignited, a terrifying fan of electric arcs surged forward, saturating the ten-meter-wide corridor. The very air ionized instantly. The dense formation of the xenos constructs led to massive, immediate losses; thousands of mechanical units detonated in a chain reaction. A colossal shockwave even surged back out of the corridor, yet the surrounding Wolf warriors remained unharmed.
Since receiving injections of the Panacea, their physical strength had increased tremendously. After the Rune Priest had inspected the new power armour provided by Axion, they realized that even without the Black Carapace, they could operate this staggering equipment. The Iron Men's armour possessed a massive internal structure with multi-layered plating; stray electricity was bled off from the outer shell into the electrified air and flooring, leaving the wearer inside entirely untouched. Had they been wearing standard Imperial power armour, their fate would have been the same as the Iron Warriors, roasted to at least a medium-rare state by the mere leakage of current.
"Warning: High-energy weapon threat detected."
A crimson prompt flashed in the Rune Priest's helm. Within the fire and smoke of the explosions, a single red dot had been tagged. Beam weapons were nearly impossible to dodge; unless one could track the orientation of the muzzle and avoid its vector, they were all but guaranteed to hit. The enemy had cunningly masked their attack within the glare of the explosions, rendering the Rune Priest unable to notice the incoming shot. Lacking the AI-assisted combat subroutines, the armour could not autonomously maneuver the user out of harm's way.
Fighting within a xenos fortress meant the enemy likely possessed unknown technological augmentations, such as guided, over-the-horizon strikes. The complexity of the structure, the unidentifiable weaponry, and a thousand other variables meant that disaster could strike at any moment.
Thud.
A dull, heavy impact resounded in front of the Rune Priest. An Armored Warden equipped with twin Atomic Pulse Cannons had dropped with surgical precision, intercepting the beam. Its heavy shield, capable of withstanding siege-artillery bombardment, shattered instantly under the force of the strike. Yet, in the instant the shield failed, the two Atomic Pulse Cannons on its shoulders opened fire in unison.
Brilliant beams traced the path of the original attack, disappearing deep into the corridor. Seconds later, the sound of the resulting explosions echoed from the depths of the fortress.
Axion felt a touch of mechanical helplessness regarding these reckless and foolish allies. Biological entities were always unpredictable. The calculations and behavioral simulations of the Iron Men tended to discard low-efficiency or low-probability options. Yet, in the decision-making patterns of biological life, it seemed no behavior was truly of "low probability." Even the creators were prone to such suicidal, foolish stunts, though they preferred to label such decisions as "adventurous."
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