Unlike the Space Wolves, who continued to howl and roar, screaming for xenos blood over the comms, Axion perceived far more information from these alien constructs.
The material, resembling white bone-plate, bore a striking resemblance to Aeldari wraithbone. Strange, flowing Warp energies coursed through these xenos machines, and indeed, through the bizarre fortress itself. The very energies that would typically corrupt steel and flesh seemed to have no effect upon them whatsoever. In Axion's database, even within the records of the ancient Aeldari Empire, nothing of this nature had ever been documented. It was as if these creations were born from the Warp itself, possessing a near-perfect resonance with the Empyrean. The only recorded material with similar properties was the wraithbone of the Aeldari, a unique substance used to construct webway gates, manifested out of thin air from the Warp through psychic manipulation following specific patterns and sequences.
Lacking sufficient data for a definitive calculation, Axion could only conclude that these were the products of a civilization far more ancient, and that the Aeldari's techniques for crafting wraithbone likely originated from this same source.
However, Axion cared little for the revelation. Iron Men do not possess curiosity. Unlike the Imperium, with its reckless, self-destructive need to investigate every anomaly, Axion promptly ordered his mechanical legions to isolate the Space Wolves from the xenos constructs.
The maneuver was almost brutal. The Space Wolves were few in number and were easily shoved aside by the crushing weight of the mechanical host. Dense pulses of energy crisscrossed within the alien bastion. In truth, the mechanical tide was not there simply to destroy the xenos machines; thousands of Destroyer-class Heavy Automatons brandished their power claws, working feverishly at the point where the fortress was wedged into the prow of the Void Sword. Every sweep of their claws tore away massive sheets of scrap metal, sometimes the Void Sword's own outer armour, other times the strange, alien alloy of the bastion.
The silent fortress offered no reaction to the assault. The kinetic impact of the Void Sword's collision had already exceeded the structural tolerance of the alien artifact. The Iron Men's army continued to dismantle the bastion while simultaneously annihilating the endless waves of xenos drones that surged to defend it.
For the duration of the engagement, the Wolves stood in stunned silence, squeezed into a corner by the impenetrable ranks of the Iron Men, their weapons held uselessly at their sides. Occasionally, they would squeeze off a few shots at distant flashes of light, desperate to claim at least a kill or two. They soon noticed, however, that the Iron Men were systematically ushering them back toward the Void Sword.
The Wolves considered protesting, but the sight of a Punisher Titan nearby, carving massive grooves into the fortress with its gargantuan sword, persuaded them to hold their tongues.
The xenos fortress was of a flat, disc-like design, its thickness not particularly impressive. The entire area where it was wedged against the Titan-ship's prow was a narrow interface, less than a hundred kilometers across. As the mechanical tide flooded the area, the sections the xenos drones attempted to repair were torn down faster than they could be restored.
As the fleet began to decelerate, the inertial force caused the trapped fortress to drift away from the prow of the Void Sword. Once they were separated, scores of automatons immediately began redeploying Geller field generators at the damaged section of the prow, while tractor beams forcibly lashed the hull to the Void Sword's side. Once the integrity of the Geller field was verified, swarms of nanites began to repair the hull. Meanwhile, transport craft swarmed the drifting fortress to recover the remaining mechanical units.
The separated fortress now looked peculiar, like a massive block of cheese carved with a V-shaped notch, shedding metallic debris into the void. It made no difference to the Iron Men. The transports quickly retrieved the stranded units and salvaged a selection of alien equipment, potential data storage devices and drone husks.
Confirming that no assets remained on the fortress, Axion deactivated the tractor beams. The fleet surged forward, sailing several hundred kilometers ahead. Then, the broadside batteries of the Void Sword ignited.
Stripped of its bizarre, dampening shields, the fortress was unable to resist the onslaught. The multi-thousand-kilometer-wide bastion disintegrated in a single, devastating salvo. Whether it held ancient secrets or terrifying threats, it mattered not to the Iron Men. Anything that hindered the execution of the mission was an "unexpected variable." Eliminating variables and achieving the objective, that was the purpose of the Iron Men.
The Wolves returned to their ships via their respective Thunderhawks. As the warriors watched the fortress being blasted into drifts of space-rubble in the distance, they felt a sudden, hollow sense of anticlimax. The Iron Men's purpose was so focused, their methods so blunt and efficient, that the Space Wolves felt their presence had been entirely superfluous.
To the Iron Men, the concept of a "boarding action" simply did not exist. They were the true masters of the doctrine of overwhelming firepower. Unlike the Imperium's reliance on raw numbers, the Iron Men's scale of firepower escalated from the individual soldier to the ship-borne battery, and finally to planet-scale kinetic weapons (using a Titan-ship as a kinetic lance). Had they not been within the Warp, the sheer force of their barrage would likely have birthed a dozen black holes.
In contrast to the Wolves, the White Scars did not act. Possessing a Primarch, they were not as reckless as their Fenrisian brothers. Even with their assault boats prepped at the launch tubes, they had chosen to await the Khan's word. Jaghatai knew well that the Iron Men had no need for their assistance; to barge into the fray would only complicate matters for their steel allies.
The reality proved him right. The Iron Men had never intended to explore the fortress. Once detached, they simply vaporized it.
As the Crusade of Retribution fleet continued its voyage through the roiling tides of the Warp, a Greater Daemon let out a shriek of bitter frustration. Many denizens of the Warp knew the truth: these fortresses were not Aeldari creations, but the abandoned remnants of their masters. These bastions were relics of the ancient era, casual knick-knacks crafted by the Old Ones. And as masters of the Warp, how could the creations of the Old Ones ever be corrupted by it?
The C'tan had deceived the Necrontyr, attempting to turn them into slaves and granting their 'servants' the knowledge to construct destructive weapons in the physical universe. The Old Ones had naturally followed suit. Yet, because Warp-entities were too chaotic, the Old Ones had chosen to create their own servants. As for technology, the Old Ones needed only to grasp the concept; everything else was irrelevant. If the technology gifted by the C'tan was the ultimate expression of the laws of physics, then the technology of the Old Ones was pure, esoteric mastery, the highest expression of "I think it works, so it does."
In a sense, the 'intelligence' within the octahedron fortresses and Blackstone Fortresses, the constructs the Adeptus Mechanicus continuously ranted about as 'Machine Spirits,' were the genuine article. They were not driven by binary and code, but were machines to which the Old Ones had truly granted a soul.
Only the Four and their Daemons would dare to reach for such ancient, forbidden legacies. After all, the Old Ones were extinct, and the very last of their kind, hiding in the far reaches of the galaxy, had been slain by the hand of Slaanesh itself.
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