Polk, Archmagos Koriel Zeth's apprentice, stood beside his mentor, watching Envoy Melgator ascend the steps to her forge.
He wore a black velvet cap, his gaunt frame wrapped in a sable-trimmed robe.
His eyes were filled with a baleful darkness, constantly radiating his pain, chilling Polk and the machine-spirits of the Aegitos.
Beside Melgator walked a slender woman, clad in a form-fitting suit of gleaming synthetic material.
"Could it really be her?" Polk asked over the noosphere.
Zeth's bio-scanners read her unease.
"Yes. If you can avoid it, do not speak to her."
"I can guarantee you, no one wants to speak to Death." Polk watched the suit ripple like spreading blood.
"She is certainly not an envoy's bodyguard. Even the Fabricator General wouldn't be so extravagant as to use a mechanised assassin as a bodyguard."
The mechanised assassins were a secretive, cold order of killers. They had existed since the first settlers arrived on Mars.
They showed no courtesy to anyone but the Unknown Master of Cydonia Mensa.
A complex array of magnetic-gravitic thrusters made her movements beautiful and deadly.
Her genetic and surgical enhancements had honed her form to perfection.
Given the scrapcode attack from the Fabricator General, Zeth didn't know if she would be killed by the assassin's blade in the next few seconds, her blood dripping on the steps of her forge.
Melgator approached Zeth with stiff, clicking steps.
"Archmagos Zeth, it is a pleasure to visit your forge again."
"Melgator, this is my apprentice, Polk."
Melgator sensed Zeth's wariness as she looked at his companion, who wore a grinning crimson skull mask.
"My assistant, Remiyal."
Zeth stared at the gleaming metal horns on the mask's jaw, a targeting array locked onto the weak points in her armor.
She glanced at Polk, who, while maintaining a respectful posture, had slipped his hands into his robe sleeves.
"Envoy, what brings you here?" Zeth asked.
"These are dark days of death."
"The Fabricator General has sent me to you with hope. He wishes to earn your friendship."
"Who brings an assassin to win friendship?" Zeth turned to Remiyal.
"Sister of Cydonia, have you become a diplomat?"
"I can sense your fear of me, yet you still speak in such sharp words." Remiyal's gentle tone suddenly turned cold.
"You know I could kill you for your insolence. Why do you provoke me?"
"There will be no killing here. We are on a mission to rebuild friendship." Melgator smiled.
"In these times, allies are more valuable than pure data streams."
Zeth stared at Melgator. "Does the Fabricator General know who released the scrapcode into Mars's systems?"
"He is not yet certain." Melgator looked at the intact forge.
"But he is curious to know how the Forge of the Magma City escaped the misfortune that befell some forges. Perhaps you would be generous enough to share your secret."
"The Fabricator General is very interested in your latest project, whatever it may be."
"You have smuggled transcribers from Terra and secretly brought large numbers of psykers from the Black Ships."
"How do you know about my core research project at the main reactor?" Zeth had only shared the progress of the Akashic Reader with Ipluvien Maximal and Arkhan Land.
Even Kane only knew the peripheral project, the noosphere.
'Could it be?'
'The Warmaster. Only he would have access to the Black Ships' movements.'
'Did he and Kelbor-Hal want my research?'
"Information is woven into every electronic channel of this red planet. And you know, machine-spirits love to share secrets."
Zeth said, warily, "I have told you, I use a new noospheric technology."
Melgator smiled. "Very well, I accept your explanation."
"Then perhaps you would be willing to freely share your technology with us."
"Perhaps, if the Fabricator General showed me more trust." Zeth said.
"Then I will be direct." Melgator said.
"The Fabricator General is trying to unite all true Magi, to defend Mars."
"Defend Mars? From whom?" Zeth asked.
"Terra." Melgator said.
"The Great Crusade is over. The Emperor wants to end the alliance with Mars. He wants to claim our world."
"Do you truly believe the Emperor will allow us to exist in His Imperium?"
"When we are of no use to the tyrant, He will wield His sword."
Zeth laughed. "Now I know why you brought an assassin as a bodyguard. You were afraid I would kill you, traitor."
"Zeth, be careful what you say." Melgator warned.
"Or what? Will you order Remiyal to kill me?" Zeth asked.
"I would not assassinate the master of a Martian forge, and risk angering the avatar of the Machine God." Melgator said.
"The Omnissiah?" Zeth said, with contempt. "You say the Emperor is disloyal to the Mechanicum, and then you use Him as a reason not to kill me?"
Melgator shook his head. "The Emperor is not the Omnissiah. Join us, and you will see the Machine God manifest."
"Most believe they are one and the same." Zeth said.
"You do not believe that, do you?" Melgator said.
"You know what I believe." Zeth said.
"There is no Machine God. The Emperor is right: technology is science and reason, not superstition and blind faith."
"Those who turn their backs on the Fabricator General will face terrible consequences." Melgator warned.
"If you do not want a war, leave now." Zeth's mechanical right arm swung, crackling.
"They cannot leave. The mechanised assassin is extracting information from the noosphere." A low voice echoed in Zeth's helm-mounted portable noosphere receiver.
Archmagos Arkhan Land's voice.
"She has silently breached your logic barriers and stolen your data."
A point of starlight flickered, enveloping Remiyal.
"Zeth, you have assassins too?" She lunged forward like a falcon.
"Let's play."
"Land."
She moved with light, fluid steps through the watery starlight.
The serpentine sensors at the back of her head twitched. [Gravity increased to 2.7 times normal. Still rising.]
Her body grew heavier. Her swift steps slowed.
"What do we do?" Polk asked her mentor over the noosphere.
Zeth had hoped to avoid a direct confrontation with the Fabricator General, at least until her project was complete.
But now, the decision had been made.
"It is said mechanised assassins can infiltrate any independent network."
"If she has truly bypassed my defenses and probed my memory banks, she may have accessed information related to the Akashic Reader."
"The Fabricator General and Horus must not learn the secret of the Akashic Reader."
"Zeth, open your eyes and see the fate of those who oppose the Fabricator General." Melgator warned.
Arkhan Land had discovered many STCs, but he was an Explorator Archmagos. He excelled at archaeotechnology and research, not combat.
Even a Magos Dominus, leading a Skitarii cohort, would not survive a close-quarters encounter with a mechanised assassin.
"This is your last chance."
"Traitor." Zeth spat.
At the same time, she sent a communication over the noosphere to Forrik, Lord Commander of House Taranis, and Quamar Argos, Magos Dominus of the Macro-Hypori Legion.
"A mechanised assassin."
A scrapcode data packet bypassed her defenses, burrowing into Polk.
He convulsed, crackling, and collapsed.
"Scrapcode!" Zeth cried out.
"The scrapcode came from you! The attack came from you!"
"You gave the Cydonia Sisters scrapcode, to serve you."
Melgator clapped his dry hands together. "Archmagos Zeth, you are correct."
"But you are running out of time. Make your choice."
He looked at Remiyal, his eyes narrowing.
....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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