The screech of the engine was countered by the gradually increasing howling wind under the halo of the icy twin moons of the forging world. The ultra-high-speed dust particles rubbed the Stormbird like the fingers of death in the crazy storm, but this kind of weapon was specially designed to survive in harsh conditions. The aircraft operating in the environment will not be disturbed so slightly, and it will descend smoothly step by step under the control of the pilot.
In the Stormbird's cabin, Soshyan stared outside through the curved observation window. The slag mountains seemed to be rows of sharp points rising from the sand dunes and the blowing dust they dragged, cutting the horizon into jagged shapes. Like a predator's mouth.
Guided by the landing signal, the Stormbird's engines roared in triumph, drowning out the rushing wind and flying dust.
Soon, with the creak of the landing gear, the Storm Bird landed steadily on the ground, the red warning light came on, and the cabin ramp slowly lowered.
When he stepped onto this landing point on the highest peak of the mountain range, Soshyan heard the crunch of gravel under his feet. A cold and biting wind blew sand into his face. A group of figures made of steel and flesh were standing there. Walking in procession.
Hundreds of Skitarii formed two human walls, their corpse-like faces made of scopes and data cables, speakers crackling on their chests as they raised their guns to form an arch.
"Welcome Chapter Master Soshyan Alexei——"
At this time, a group of priests in red robes also appeared, headed by a ruling sage holding a plasma battle axe. He bowed to Soshiyang very humbly.
"Welcome your distinguished Chapter Master to this place."
Soshiyang nodded slightly.
"Thank you for your hard work, Sage Aijake, no need to be polite."
Then everyone walked through the queue of the skitarii and walked towards the mountaintop castle built of steel and concrete. Along the way, the ruling sage introduced Soshiyan in detail about the battle situation in the Slag Mountains and recent events.
The general headquarters of the Slag Mountain War Zone is a real fortress. After walking in, Soshyan saw huge turrets and automatic soldiers patrolling everywhere. Archaeopteryx kept falling from the sky, bringing or taking away people, and occasionally A huge transport plane arrived, delivering all kinds of needed supplies and equipment.
The command post is built on the highest peak of the Slag Mountains, surrounded by cliffs. Apart from the sky passage, the only ground road is a huge elevator, which can drop personnel into a bunker about 600 meters below the command post. .
After entering the high wall of the command post, Soshyan first saw many workshops illuminated by welding arcs and spark eruptions. Many severely damaged servitors and combat robots with short arms and legs were waiting to be sent in, as well as a In a small three-story white building, many damaged Skitarii were lying on the conveyor belt, and were slowly being sent into the small building. They would receive treatment and repairs inside, and continue to fight.
A few minutes later, Soshyan entered the first-floor hall of the command tower located in the center of the fortress. The Terminators who followed him were waiting outside. Only the company commanders followed him in.
This hall is also filled with the typical Mechanicus style. It looks a bit chaotic, with wires cascading from panels and pipes. Hundreds of devices are shaking and buzzing, sparks are flying, screens are flashing, and countless scriptures are scrolling. Then, many mechanical priests in robes were working around the central stage. When they noticed the huge space warriors entering, they all raised their heads briefly, and then bent down to continue working.
This is what Soshiyang has always been a little puzzled about. Machines should be neat and tidy, but the Mechanicus has derived an unusually random cultural characteristic from the rigid belief in machines. It seems that they don't have it in their minds. The concept of "clutter" means that everything can be placed randomly.
Soshyan did not stay in the noisy hall for long, and took the elevator directly to the ninth floor of the tower.
As soon as he came out, he saw two company commanders and several sage-level mechanical priests.
"Chapter Master."
Soshyan walked quickly among them, and then looked at the thing on the huge analysis table.
These ugly mechanical aliens were both familiar and unfamiliar to him.
"This thing, called the Skinner, is the craziest of these crazy mechanical aliens."
After staring for a moment, Soshyan pointed at the humanoid machine that had all its parts disassembled and had huge claws on its hands.
"After they kill the target, they will cover the target's flesh and skin on their bodies. This seems to come from the chaos of the memory circuit of the Necron."
In fact, with the help of information from the Eldar, Soshiyan already knew the Necron very well. He knew that the Skinner came from a virus called the Curse of the Skinner, which in turn came from a person who was completely killed by the Necrontyr. The star god.
Of course, it's impossible to say it directly. You can only put it another way.
At this time, a sage suddenly said in a stereotyped mechanical voice:
"Sir, do you know where their memory circuits are? We checked their skulls in detail, but we didn't find anything like chips."
"You'd better give up on research on this kind of alien. This requires a long period of accumulation. I'm not looking down on you. It's just that even large-scale foundry worlds like Huangquan No. 8, which have long studied Necron technology, have only a partial understanding of the structure of Necron. It would be more appropriate to put your energy in more useful places."
After speaking, Soshyan looked at Ninth Company Commander Surena.
"Your company was involved in a large-scale engagement with the Necron?"
"Yes, 10 soldiers were killed."
"There is no need to blame yourself. This is not your fault. You have no experience fighting the Necrons. These alien machines have a weird phase technology that can travel between two spaces at will. If you are not aware of it, you can easily be caught off guard."
"What the Chapter Master said is that they can always appear in our defense lines inexplicably."
Then Soshyan picked up the remains of a tomb stinging insect and looked at it carefully. The others didn't know what he was looking for, but they didn't say anything and just waited quietly.
In fact, he was looking for the symbol of the dynasty.
According to the information he saw in the Eldar, the Necrons are not a unified political power. They are divided into many large and small dynasties. Each Necron tomb world belongs to a dynasty, and each dynasty has its own unique Styles and emblems are usually engraved on their warriors or machines.
Sure enough, Soshyan quickly discovered a sign consisting of two triangles and a circle. He silently remembered it in his heart, and planned to communicate with Veronica remotely after returning to orbit to see if the other party knew what this was. Which dynasty? In his memory, Veronica knew a lot about the Necrontyr.
Knowing yourself and your enemy has always been the secret to Soshiyang's victory in every battle.
(End of chapter)
