God-Machines, page 17
‘Just go, say nothing,’ Ghelsa urged them.
Harkas tugged at her arm, pulling her back from the kastelan’s line of fire.
‘They are hereteks,’ said the hyperezia leader. ‘We are going to execute them.’
‘They are the hereteks,’ shouted the one with the laspistol, his empty hand moving to the weapon’s grip.
‘No!’ Ghelsa tried to step forward, but Harkas wrenched her back.
On first examination the new soldiery appeared little different from the other tech-guard of the Legio. They wore the signature white coats of Metalica and displayed an array of gunmetal bionics. There were small visible details, insignia and edgings of coats and robes, that marked them out from Exasas’ own warriors, but a far more telling difference was the noospheric aura that surrounded them.
It was a dense mass of continual exchange, as dark to Exasas’ probing as the thunderhead that covered the valley behind them. The crash of boots on steps and then ferrocrete was near perfect, as was their mustering in squads in lines facing their transports. A surge of noospheric activity preceded weapons simultaneously lifted in salute to the emerging magos.
It seemed a needlessly inefficient display, and Exasas was unsure whether the benefit was meant to be vis or the accompanying dominus’. It hinted at unresolved issues of ego. To Exasas authority was self-evident and required no such ostentatious behaviour.
A strange thought distracted ver. Ve wished that ve had donned vis warskin for the encounter. Ve had decided against that course of action on the grounds that Exasas-tactical would not be best placed to integrate the strategic needs of both skitarii forces, and the warskin was still undergoing repair. Looking at the newcomers’ gleaming arc rifles and unsullied uniforms, Exasas concluded that a greater physical presence might have been of benefit in the exchange that was to follow.
Chastising verself for such nervous meandering, Exasas wondered why the other magos delayed their arrival. Were they receiving instruction or simply testing Exasas’ patience in order to exert some greater authority? The magos dominus was tempted to depart as a signal of contempt for the unnecessary hesitation, but opted to remain on the grounds that it might be interpreted as ceding command.
A blue tint touched the light from the closest skyspear and a second later the augmentatii’s magos dominus slid into view.
The cerulean glow came from the circle of suspensor units that splayed from the magos’ circumference like a planetary ring. The greater part of Magos Dominus Exceptis Keterina-Ga Skitara Syntamatarkias Olvatia was a horizontally segmented sphere held inside the suspensor toroid, with a mane of long, slender sensor tendrils undulating across the upper hemisphere. Exasas was surprised that vis fellow magos had travelled outside of a warskin, as it was immediately obvious that Olvatia’s form had even less combat potential than Exasas’.
The noosphere throbbed like a heartbeat at the approach of the other dominus, the magos exceptis’ presence bending it like a mass on a space-time gradient, absorbing the dataflow just by existing. An audible hum accompanied Olvatia’s progress while a forced binaric shout issued from the grilled mouths of the attendant alphas. The noosphere contorted with the exhortation, signalling the dominus’ arrival to the tech-priests within the Casus Belli.
Five more Krysaorian tech-priests emerged from the command transport a few seconds after their magos, as diffuse in form as any Exasas had encountered – two hunched humanoids, the other three far less easy to categorise with their many-jointed limbs and articulated mechadendrites, swathed in white-and-red robes.
Exasas interposed verself between Olvatia and the antae of the akropoliz. The other magos drifted to a halt just out of reach and the segments of the upper hemisphere of the main body slid backwards a quarter-arc, revealing Olvatia’s pinched, bionically grafted face. A swift analysis of the underlying bone structure confirmed a female-origin humanoid, though Exasas new better than to make identity assumptions based on such transitory physical details. Only the skull, brain and nervous system tissue remained. A waxy fakeskin covered the remains of Olvatia’s head and face, embedded crystal orbs glimmering from the sockets. The fakeskin folded awkwardly as partially inflated lips approximated a smile.
‘Pleased to make your acquaintance, Magos Dominus Militaris Xaiozanus Skitara Xilliarkis Exasas.’
A noospheric datapoint tagged Exasas’ processors to exchange security and identity protocols. Among the swift burst of traffic was a standard persona construct package.
#she/her/her/hers/herself#chronoglacial#binaric#olvatia#noospherent-2918721#
Exasas noted that Olvatia still identified with her female origins despite the almost complete lack of physical resemblance to the person she had been. Occasionally a high-ranking tech-priest would shed such identifiers, but it was striking how lasting such early self-views persisted beyond the flesh. Vis own genderless identity was extant from vis first cogent thoughts, a part of vis self-determination even before any abstraction of vis physical form. Ve responded in kind as ve extended an appendage in greeting.
‘Welcome to the Casus Belli, Magos Dominus Exceptis Keterina-Ga Skitara Syntamatarkias Olvatia.’
#ve/ver/vis/vis/verself/#chronotangent#binaric#exasas#noospherent-4458947-e#xilliarkis#
They regarded each other with a full suite of pseudo-physical and digital senses, the noosphere purring between them with assessment vibrations. Exasas was determined that ve would extend no further invitation unless a formal request was made, and it seemed that Olvatia was equally adamant the current magos dominus should cede command directly.
The standoff was interrupted by a sudden motion from the Casus Belli. Exasas broke off from vis rival and hurried to the frontal parapet. The last of the relief augmentatii were racing up the steps of the port bastions, those within the starboard already secured as the foot started to lift. Ve swung back towards Olvatia.
‘The princeps senioris is keen to avoid delays.’ Ve measured vis next words and opted to voice them as suggestion rather than command until the matter of hierakos was unified between them. ‘You should deploy your troops within so that we can secure the akropoliz.’
Olvatia did not reply immediately, and Exasas suspected she would try to force the issue of dominance. Instead she extended a noospheric frond to his receptors.
Olvatia [conciliatory]:
It seemed a strange thing to say, effectively suggesting that they ignore the protocols of hierakos. Exasas toyed with the idea of exerting vis position more strenuously, but in an effort to maintain amity, ve did not argue the point.
Exasas [conciliatory]
Ve undulated alongside the other magos and extended a limb towards the open gateway.
‘My alphas and battle-priests are keen to integrate our conjoined forces.’
A noospheric pulse from Olvatia had the augmentatii running to the gate a second later, followed more serenely by the two magi.
As the battle group headed into the storm-wreathed valley the interference grew stronger. Arcs of scarlet fire played across the void shields, each lightning strike rippling coruscations of bright purple and white about the Titans. Dark hail started to fall, some of the stones as large as fists. They posed no threat to the armour of a war engine, but soon the constant drumming became an audible counterpart to the static-crackle that beset the noosphere and vox-links. Wherever Exasas extended vis senses, be it biological or digital, a numbing drone greeted ver.
Visibility was similarly impaired. In the gloom beneath the immense thunderhead, storm lamps lit the way, their beams seeming to flicker in the monumental deluge. Datafeeds sputtered and stalled beneath the onslaught of electromagnetic discharge and feedback surges rattled into the magos’ system like impact vibrations.
Ve had returned to vis monitor station to witness the Casus Belli’s entry into the stormfront, but doing so had meant leaving Olvatia alone in the akropoliz. Between the intermissions inflicted by the storm activity and the augmentatii proprietary cipher channels, it was impossible for ver to study exactly what the new arrivals were doing. Exasas was forced to use visual and auditory feeds from across the Titan to supplement the intermittent noospheric data, which was a time-consuming process.
A few minutes after crossing the outer boundary of the tempest, they lost contact with the rest of the battle group. Like sparks whirled away on a hurricane, the noospheric signatures of the other Titans disappeared, leaving the Casus Belli to forge along with only the glimmer of their lamps to signal their positions.
Monderas:
Exasas did not agree, but chose not to voice any doubts. The matter of vis continued command rank had not been brought up again since the arrival of the new skitarii contingent, but ve was of no mind to draw attention to verself in the eye of the princeps senioris.
Iealona had been silent since Exasas’ return to the czella, an absence of communication easily explained by the need to focus all of her effort on guiding the Imperator through the storm. In contrast to Monderas’ attempt at positivity, Exasas found verself drawn into a declining morale gradient by the thought that their uninterrupted advance served the purposes of the enemy more than their own. If vis conclusions that the traitors had been attempting to weaken the rest of the battle group were correct, the isolating influence of the electrical tempest furthered that end.
Risking a repeat accusation of data-paranoia from Monderas, the magos connected to the surveyor systems and ran vis own analysis as a redundant process. The dataflow was painfully sporadic, utterly non-existent in some quadrants during particularly excessive storm discharges. Even the lamps of the other Titans had become almost invisible in the darkness, so that it seemed the Casus Belli advanced alone through a tunnel of blackness lit only by the reflections of light from the curtain of hail.
According to the archive logs there were old settlements dug into the mountains on either side, storm-shielded to protect the inhabitants from just the kind of elemental rage that currently engulfed the valley. There was a significant probability that the enemy were using those subterranean dwellings at that moment, poised to attack when the storm’s fury abated.
A worrying track of logic drew Exasas into further extrapolation. If the hereteks were ensconced within the mountains in any conflict-viable numbers, they might mount a problematic counter-attack against the forces securing the remains of Az Khalak. Devoid of the battle group’s considerable firepower and yet to establish their own defensive positions, the tech-guard were vulnerable to a rapidly launched assault.
Exasas:
Monderas [interrogative]:
Exasas:
Gevren:
Haili [injunctive]:
Exasas:
Gevren:
Exasas:
Monderas [intercessionary]:
Exasas:
Gevren:
Exasas [emphatic]:
Monderas:
Exasas:
Gevren:
Exasas:
Iealona:
The sudden emergence of the princeps’ senioris presence surprised Exasas, as did her question. Ve sensed a flurry of moderati-princeps traffic across the distorted noosphere. Although it was a direct contravention of hierakos, the pattern suggested that Gevren and the other moderati were exerting undue influence over their superior. If there was a moment for Exasas to reiterate vis case, it was now. It was vis duty to challenge the logic of the others, but with another dominus on board Exasas felt insecure in vis position of command.
Ve hesitated, keeping vis fears to verself.
Iealona:
And with that pronouncement, all further discussion was thwarted. Against Exasas’ grave misgivings, the Casus Belli would press on.
An insistent signal through the static of the noosphere finally drew Exasas’ attention. It was a latent communication from Olvatia that had been inserted during their first contact, time-coded to not make itself known immediately. Exasas treated the data-packet with suspicion, just the latest in a series of increasingly unorthodox occurrences that had beset ver and the Casus Belli since they had started their attack on Az Khalak.
There was a pattern to be discovered, ve was sure of it. Ve could see the edges – the extant facts of the enemy’s behaviour and the spiralled intertwining events that had brought the battle group to its current status. Yet no amount of examination revealed the hub that connected them. Exasas knew well enough that the centre was not only the end point of the calculation – it was also the beginning. Ve knew that if ve could decipher the meaning of the enemy’s actions and properly extrapolate them to a defined outcome, there would be an evident counter to it.
There were other, more disturbing factors to take into consideration. Facets of the moderati’s behaviour – perhaps even Monderas’ – that raised more questions. The arrival of the other magos dominus possibly implicated some sort of politicking at the Legio command level.
It was not unusual, though less common within the Legio than the wider Cult Metalica. The demands of hierakos and the ambitions of individual magi meant factionalisation was inevitable. In some social models it was even deemed desirable, though as a strict militarist Exasas viewed dissent and internal competition as inefficient compared to cooperation against external threat.
Although it had probably held back vis progression into the higher ranks, Exasas had previously remained explicitly neutral in such affairs. A power struggle within the upper echelons of the Legio Metalica would explain some of the idiosyncrasies of their current deployment, but the magos dominus was determined not to be drawn into it on account of it being a distraction from completing vis theorem.
The time capsule attracted vis attention again, with increased vitality. Still unsure, Exasas created a sub-persona to engage with the message, shielding the greater part of verself from contact. Sub-Exasas accessed the data-stub with the care and circumspection of a surgitas trying to remove an unexploded bolt from a patient.
#security.of.casus.belli.compromised#immediate.action.necessary#consultation.required#auditory.exchange.only#main.battery.magazine#
The message confirmed Exasas’ opinion that the crew of the Casus Belli were being subjected to an unseen manipulation at the cost of operational effectiveness. As an outsider Olvatia had an ideal perspective to determine these irregularities, although the clandestine nature of her communication did not bode well for any ambition on her part to bring the issue to light with the rest of the command crew. It was reasonable to assume that she wished to pass on whatever information she had to Exasas to avoid becoming embroiled herself – although her presence on the Imperator was already evidence that she was unwittingly involved.
