Chapter 19: In The First Battle

Auspex alarms sounded across the ground units. Scanners detected thousands of hostile contacts emerging from canyons and underground tunnels.

The numbers rose with each update, and the tech-priest overseers quickly assessed the threat.

"Classification confirmed," one metallic voice said over the command net. "Hostile scavenger populations. Mutant concentrations above projected estimates."

Thousands of mutants charged from ruins, canyon walls, and hidden tunnels. Most wore scavenged armor and carried crude weapons, firearms, or explosives.

The Skitarii fired disciplined volleys, galvanic rifles cracking, arc weapons spitting lightning, and radium carbines cutting down mutants. Many fell, but the horde kept coming.

Castellax battle-automata advanced from the landing zone, their mauler bolt cannons cutting down the attackers with explosive fire as combat servitors added their heavy weapons to the barrage. They fired until all targets were dead.

The battle escalated into a full military deployment as orders flooded every command channel.

Skitarii cohorts secured defensive perimeters around the landing zone. Defensive emplacements deployed from transport platforms while soldiers took firing positions.

Thallax cohorts descended on gravitic systems and secured high ground and key chokepoints. Their mobility let them redeploy quickly wherever the line came under pressure.

Castellax maniples moved to likely attack routes and formed armored defensive lines.

Cargo sections opened, releasing additional combat servitors. They were deployed to vulnerable sectors where enemy numbers threatened the defenses.

Behind the front lines, Myrmidon Secutors formed a mobile reserve, ready to reinforce breaches or launch counterattacks.

Tech-Priest commanders coordinated the battle through constant streams of tactical data, tracking movements, casualties, and threats with machine efficiency.

A report arrived concerning enemy relic weapons, and the alert spread rapidly through command channels. Recovered footage showed devices far beyond the crude firearms carried by most mutants. Several appeared to be Dark Age artifacts, and commanders immediately recognized the danger.

Several relics had already annihilated entire formations and displayed energy signatures beyond Mechanicum classification. One weapon had erased an entire Skitarii cohort before its operator was finally brought down. The risk of further activation was deemed unacceptable.

Within minutes, discussions shifted to orbital sterilization protocols as Theta-9 watched authorization requests move up the chain of command. The commanders issued their judgment. "Extermination authorized." Most expected orbital bombardment and glassing strikes to follow, destroying the battlefield before any relic technology could be captured, stolen, or unleashed.

Preparations began immediately as bombardment plans were drawn up to destroy entire sectors, and the troops knew that a sterilization strike would mean heavy casualties.

Then a new order arrived from their Omnissiah. All bombardment plans were canceled. No orbital strikes or glassing operations were permitted. The relic technology was to be contained and seized instead.

Questions and requests for clarification spread through the command structure as commanders tried to reconcile the directive with Mechanicum doctrine.

Theta-9 watched the reactions through the tactical feeds. Some officers were concerned, others doubtful, but many soldiers were relieved. Few wanted to stand beneath a planetary sterilization strike, even one approved by the highest authorities. No one said so aloud. The order came from the Omnissiah himself, and that was enough.

#

The eastern Skitarii line began to break under the mutant attack. Barricades collapsed, and the fighting became close and chaotic as the defenders were pushed back.

The situation worsened when part of a ruined hab-block facade collapsed. Tons of ferrocrete and twisted metal crashed onto the position, burying several Skitarii beneath the debris. Their distress signals immediately appeared across the local command network.

Vox channels erupted into chaos.

"Structural collapse! Structural collapse!"

"Multiple personnel trapped!"

"Incoming warning from aerial command. Clear the impact zone!"

The overlapping alarms and shouted orders cut through the sounds of battle, causing soldiers across the battlefield to glance around in confusion.

Then someone looked up and saw a figure descending toward their location.

Skitarii optics locked onto the descending figure. Tech-Priests froze. Across dozens of visual feeds, enormous Smack Hands formed around Rex's arms, growing until they dwarfed him.

Rex hit the ground like a meteor.

Dust, stone, and compressed air exploded outward from the impact.

The shockwave swept through the mutant ranks, throwing them off their feet and scattering them through the rubble. On the Skitarii side, it was little more than wind and dust.

For a moment, the battle stopped. Mutants and Skitarii stared in stunned silence, and even the Tech-Priests watching through remote feeds said nothing.

When the dust slowly cleared, a massive silhouette emerged at the center of the newly formed crater.

Rex knelt on one knee, one Smack Hand on the cracked ground and the other resting on his raised leg. Dust swirled around him as he lifted his head and stood.

"Okay, let's do this," Rex said, looking over the battlefield. "Who's ready for a beatdown?"

A mutant warrior screamed and charged. Others followed, and soon dozens were rushing forward.

Rex moved before they reached him, one broad Smack Hand sweeping across the charging line and sending attackers tumbling through the dust. Another punch struck a scavenged shield and launched its wielder backward into a pile of rubble.

For a heartbeat, the battlefield seemed to freeze as both sides stared at the devastation he had wrought.

Then the stunned silence shattered, and the battle erupted around him once more.

Rex immediately turned his attention to the trapped personnel, moving through the chaos with impossible speed. He ripped apart wreckage and lifted twisted metal off wounded soldiers pinned beneath it.

When mutant vehicles attempted to push deeper into the expedition's formation, he transformed into his Rex Ride configuration and accelerated across the battlefield. The sleek hover bike skimmed over the broken terrain at tremendous speed, slamming into the attackers and sending vehicles spinning onto their sides while scattering them across the ruins without crushing their occupants.

Heavy weapons that threatened the defenders were disabled with equal precision. Rex shifted one arm into a Combat Drill, boring through weapon mounts and ammunition feeds without harming the crews. Moments later, his Battle Saw emerged from the opposite arm, slicing apart firing assemblies and power conduits with surgical accuracy.

The mutants who witnessed this hesitated in visible confusion. They had expected the legendary Omnissiah of Mars to answer their attack with annihilation.

Instead, he was saving lives and dismantling weapons while leaving their wielders alive.

Several mutants interpreted the restraint as weakness and charged him anyway, screaming war cries as they rushed forward.

Rex met them without hesitation. His hands shifted into massive Smack Hands of living metal, allowing him to absorb blows and deliver controlled strikes. A precise punch to a shoulder dropped one attacker. A measured blow to the abdomen folded another to the ground. Others found themselves disarmed, tripped, or rendered unconscious before they fully understood what had happened.

When a larger group attempted to surround him, a Boogie Pack unfolded across his back. Thrusters ignited, launching him over their heads before he landed behind them and swept their legs out from under them with a broad Smack Hand strike.

Reports across the command network reached the same conclusion: the Omnissiah was deliberately sparing the enemy.

One overturned transport crashed into a ruined structure. Rex turned toward it instinctively, only to hear fresh casualty reports arriving from three different sectors. He couldn't be everywhere at once.

As he moved from crisis to crisis, new reports came from sectors beyond his reach.

#

Elsewhere on the battlefield, organized forces joined the battle from concealed positions throughout the ruins. What had first appeared to be a disorganized mutant assault quickly proved to be a coordinated attack as fresh fighters emerged in disciplined waves.

Clan warriors poured from hidden tunnels and maintenance passages, using their knowledge of the terrain to strike where defenders least expected.

Ambushes hit the Mechanicum flanks repeatedly. Skitarii advancing through narrow avenues came under fire from elevated positions and concealed firing points.

Snipers targeted Tech-Priests, vox operators, and commanders. Several senior adepts were forced into cover as rounds cut through the dust-filled air.

Hidden explosive traps detonated among debris and ancient wreckage, tearing through advancing Skitarii formations and forcing Tech-Priest commanders to halt their advance while engineer cohorts swept for additional hazards.

To the Mechanicum forces, every ambush seemed planned to strike at a weak moment. The enemy was being led by someone who understood Mechanicum tactics.

#

The pressure mounted with each passing minute.

Casualties rose quickly. Skitarii and laborers fell, and even heavily augmented Tech-Priests were forced back by the growing assault.

As the defenders struggled to hold their lines, another wave of mutants emerged from the ruins. Ancient augmetics, far older than anything still made on Mars, were fused into their bodies. Rusted mechadendrites lashed out, and mismatched cybernetic limbs drove them forward with unnatural strength.

Unstable beams cut through cover and armor. Some weapons fired erratic bursts, while others released crackling arcs that left scorched bodies behind.

Rex saw that many of the mutants were barely holding together. They moved unevenly, as if every step took effort. Beneath their aggression, his gut sensed suffering.

Their failing implants sparked beneath torn flesh as ancient circuitry overloaded, causing limbs to seize without warning and leaving several mutants collapsing mid-battle when their augmetics finally stopped working.

Radiation leaked from damaged reactors and cracked shielding in their cybernetics. Green light flickered from exposed components, and contaminated vapor escaped ruptured housings. The mutants were attacking the expedition while dying from the machines keeping them alive.

A tech-mutant collapsed nearby, and Rex sprinted toward him through the fighting, but he arrived too late.

The mutant's overloaded reactor ruptured before Rex could reach him, and a brief flash of green light erupted from the failing machinery. When the smoke cleared, only scorched metal remained.

The destruction of the heavily armed mutant did little to slow the battle.

Across the battlefield, the pressure continued to build.

Defensive lines bent under repeated attacks as casualty reports arrived faster than medicae teams could respond, and several sectors requested reinforcements simultaneously while command personnel struggled to decide where limited reserves should be sent.

The expedition remained intact, but only barely, as relic weapons activated across the mutant lines almost at once. At first glance they resembled crude scavenged firearms, but the illusion lasted only seconds.

A sphere of pale blue light burst from one mutant's hands and expanded in a silent wave. Everything it touched vanished. Armor, flesh, weapons, and stone simply ceased to exist. An entire Skitarii squad disappeared, leaving only a smooth trench across the battlefield.

Elsewhere, a jagged metallic device fired a lance of crimson energy through three advancing formations. Troopers and combat servitors turned to ash before they hit the ground.

Another relic released a pulse that transformed armored warriors into crystal statues. Moments later, nearby explosions shattered them.

Many Skitarii died within seconds.

#

The advance stalled as Vox traffic surged across the network.

"Formation Sigma annihilated!"

"Heavy casualties! Heavy casualties!"

Even veteran Skitarii sought cover as impossible energies ripped through the battlefield, and panic spread through the ranks as soldiers struggled to understand what they were facing.

The Tech-Priests reacted with equal alarm.

"No corresponding Mechanicum archive records."

"Archeotech designation probable."

"Correction. Archeotech designation highly probable."

Binharic data streamed across command displays as Magi analyzed the devices, yet every result reached the same conclusion: the weapons were ancient and unknown.

#

Rex launched himself toward the nearest carrier, but he wasn't fast enough before the weapon fired.

A pale beam swept across a defensive position and erased an entire section of barricade along with the Skitarii sheltering behind it.

Rex landed moments later amid drifting dust and the empty space where living soldiers had stood. Rex spotted another relic charging among the mutants as a massive armored brute raised the humming device.

Rex moved first, his arm shifting into the Slam Cannon as the weapon settled over his shoulder while a maw opened at its rear and devoured rock and debris from the ground. The material compacted into ammunition, and with a thunderous blast, the cannon launched the mass at high speed, smashing the mutant's weapon arm and knocking the relic away.

Rex reached it a moment later and brought down a massive Smack Hand, shattering the relic beneath the blow as sparks and molten fragments erupted outward.

"Okay, new plan," Rex said, pointing toward the enemy line. "Anyone carrying ancient murder-tech jumps to the top of the target list. If you have to let a few of the smaller threats slide, do it." Rex was already moving toward the next target.

A mutant champion emerged from the ruins carrying a weapon made of floating metallic rings. Energy crackled between them as it activated.

A Boogie Pack deployed across Rex's back and launched him into the air. While airborne, he angled toward the densest concentration of mutants. As he descended, a massive Smack Hands construct formed over his right arm. He slammed into the ground and drove the oversized fist through a knot of mutants, the impact scattering them in every direction. Without losing momentum, he swung the construct in a wide arc, smashing aside another group before retracting it and landing in a crouch.

The mutant dove for cover, losing control of the weapon as the rings destabilized and detonated before reaching full activation.

Again and again, Rex hunted them down.

Whenever a relic appeared, he redirected nearby forces and intervened personally when possible. Several weapons were destroyed before firing. Others were neutralized by concentrated Skitarii volleys.

#

Meanwhile, concern spread through the command staff.

"Magos," one Tech-Priest transmitted, "the quantity of recovered archeotech exceeds all projections."

"Mutant forces should not possess assets of this sophistication."

Magos Yavann studied the casualty projections in silence. The numbers refused to make sense. Mutants should not have possessed this quantity of archeotech.