Arriving just inside the fortress entryway, I immediately dispatched a small group of drones to survey the immediate area. Having been unable to survey the internal structure up till now, as drones and nanobots lost connection upon entering, my goal was to figure out if this was a dungeon or some other anomaly. While I observed the live feed from the drones on my HUD, the Imperial group snapped out of their temporary confusion.
"Interesting, you are able to teleport to a location without a beacon or visual confirmation?", Mane inquired, very interested in this discovery.
"Yes, I can.", I acknowledged, glancing over my shoulder at him, "So you know, almost every other nation in this region of the cosmos has similar technology. The Imperium of Man is the only one that still requires a beacon or transceiver to transport people. You would know that, if the Mechanicus did not execute engineers and scientists from other countries that try and help Imperial Worlds on the fringes of your country."
"That…that does sound like something we would do…", Mane sighed, annoyed that his fellow Tech-Priests were too short sighted, "One more question, if you would, were those drones you dispersed a few moments ago? How are you piloting them without controls?"
"I have an AI assistant that helps me with these sorts of things so I can place my attention elsewhere.", I answered, "Luxion, you are free to speak if you so choose."
Lowering his camouflage, Luxion flew over to the Tech-Priest and observed him closely. Raising their weapons to obliterate my robotic friend, before I needed to step in, Mane ordered them to stand down. Looking at Mane like he was insane, the Tech-Priest was not the least bit concerned about what they thought. Fascinated to see an Artificial Intelligence unit in person, he attempted to scan Luxion with his equipment only to have it begin to malfunction.
"Is…is that so?", Mane remarked, having never thought of such a thing before.
"Sentient AIs are meant to be allies, colleagues, and friends to their creators. Your ancestors dumped everything they could not be bothered with doing onto AI and mistreated it when it could not live up to your expectation.", I elaborated, as I began walking down the corridor, "To an extent, early AIs are like young children in need of guidance and nurturing. If you beat the crap out of a human child and degrade them endlessly, what sort of adult would you assume they would become?"
"…I…I see…", Mane remarked, piecing things together, "They learned humanity's worst traits from us, and in turn, treated us the same way back in kind. That explains why some AIs did not go rogue while many others did."
Nodding his head in acknowledgement, the Tech-Priest began to ponder the subject deeply. While he was lost in thought, the drone sensors confirmed that the environment inside the fortress was nearly identical to the dungeons in our world. With that being the case, I was curious what the Dungeon Core would look like as this place spawned robots and Warp monsters. Thinking about it for a moment, a chill ran down my spine as I remembered that I had yet to encounter anything from Doom besides the BFG.
'There is a chance that this place might be under the control of a Gore Nest. If that is the case, the real fight is going to be in the control room when we kill it. Fuck…I really hate the fact we are reliant on only the drones and Roxanne's sense of smell in here. Detection Magic and Life Detection via the Force are not working in here for some reason.', I thought, "Everyone stay sharp, aside from Chaos Space Marines and monsters, there are bound to be dozens of other exploration teams in here. Given the fame and fortune capturing this place will bring someone, they are liable to try and kill us on sight."
"You heard him, keep your heads on swivel and watch our backs.", Ionica ordered her subordinates.
"Yes, ma'am!", they acknowledged, taking up defensive positions around the outer edges of the group as we continued forward.
---Fifty Minutes Later---
Maintaining a brisk pace, as the labyrinth was potentially several thousand miles in length, we kept on walking till my timer began to go off. Having set a reminder for the hourly shifting this place experienced, it was about to begin any moment now. Motioning for everyone to gather round, as the Tech-Priests began to move, the entire structure began to shake violently beneath our feet. Confused by what was happening, Ionica inquired if a trap had inadvertently been triggered.
"This Blackstone Fortress shifts its floorplans every sixty minutes.", Mane remarked, as the walls began moving, "I suggest we prepare ourselves for a fight. Attacks tend to happen during and immediately after the shifting."
Stealing ourselves for a potential ambush, all of us stood in a circle with our backs to one another. Watching the pathway we come down close behind us, three new pathways opened revealing a swarm of small robots and monsters. Spotting us almost immediately, the horde came barreling toward us from two of the three pathways. Ordering my troops to begin firing upon them, I transformed my right arm into a repulsor gatling gun and began unleashing a hailstorm of energy blasts. Easily killing the Warp monsters with a single hit, the robots and their shielding proved to be a bit more difficult to deal with. Tanking several hits before exploding, at the rate they were moving, we were likely going to end up engaging a large portion of them in close quarter combat which was not ideal with our backs to a wall.
"Fall back and prepare a defensive line in the empty hallway!", I commanded everyone, as the robots began firing lasers upon us.
"Keep firing upon the enemy, do not let up!", Ionica ordered her people, defying my orders.
"Yes ma'am!", her troops acknowledged, hunkering down.
"Assist them to your utmost ability. Identify weaknesses in their shielding and transmit the data to the rest of us.", Mane told his team, "I want samples of a few robots so do not obliterate all of them, if you can help it."
Acknowledging his orders with a series of beeps, the Imperial group continued bombarding the enemy while we set up a defensive line. Deploying several heavy-duty energy shields and three heavy plasma cannons, Mylene kept trying to tell them to join us, but they refused to budge. As we finished setting things up, several dozen robots began throwing themselves at the Imperial group. Exploding as they got close, their firing line started to fall apart as a few of them screamed out in pain.
Seizing upon the disarray and momentary lapse in fire, a literal wave of robots slammed into the group pinning them to the wall. Thrashing around trying to get break free, the machines started to chop their armor, bodies, and equipment up with their lasers. Crying out in pain and agony, I ordered my troops to lay down some suppressive fire so they could get free. Melting dozens of them with each strike, a few of Sisters broke free but choose to inadvertently get in our line of fire to aid their comrades.
"Why are you just standing there!?", Lucoa shouted, using her laser rifle picking off the ones that were getting close to their necks, "Fall back with us!"
"We do not fall back or retreat!", Ionica told her, continuing to use her lasrifle on the robots, "We either slaughter our enemies, or die looking them in the eye!"
"For fuck's sake…", I groaned, using Force Disintegration to atomize all the robots, "When I give a damn order, I expect you follow it to the best of your ability. Roboute Guilliman sent you here to assist MY exploration and investigation of this structure. I do not give a damn what the Imperium's policy is for fighting enemies, when you are under my leadership, you will follow my orders without complaint! Do I make myself crystal fucking clear?"
Barely standing after nearly being chopped to bits, her Sisters, the Tech-Priests, and their bodyguards looked to Ionica for a response.
"We are proud members of the Imperium's military.", Ionica answered, looking back at me in defiance, "I will never order my soldiers to retreat, the Emperor would never- "
Closing the gap between us in an instant, I slammed my right fist into her face, shattering her nose and fracturing her face on impact. Sending her flying down the opposite hallway, she skipped several times before coming to a screeching halt. Pulling her right back to me with the Force, I held her by the throat and retracted my helmet.
"Do not make me repeat myself, Sister Superior Ionica. For the duration of this expedition, I am your commanding officer, and I will not have you undermining my authority. Your little stunt robbed us of valuable intelligence gathering that could have been used to save lives down the line.", I told her, staring her down, "We have barely made any progress into the fortress. It is a safe assumption that we will run into more powerful robots the closer we get to our destination, and it is mission critical that we have as much intel on them as possible. Throwing your lives away so haphazardly belittles the noble sacrifice the Emperor of Mankind made for this nation. Your job is to defend and live for this country as long as you possibly can, and only then are you allowed to lay down your life."
Letting her go, I ordered my men to take down the defensive line while I healed the Imperials with magic. Healing their wounds completely, they did a quick once over to ensure that everything was in order before looking at Ionica. Staggering back to her feet, she lowered her head apologized for disobeying orders.
"I apologize for my misconduct and rashness, Victor.", she said, with a saddened expression.
"Imperium soldiers can be quite reckless, but I cannot fathom why you did not fall back to a more defensible location.", I remarked, "Is there something going on that you are not telling me?"
"Victor, we are all that remains of the Order of the Divine Lamentation. Everyone else was killed in the defense of the Cadian Sector, and we…we have all be dealing with survivor's guilt.", one of her subordinates spoke up, "Sister Superior Ionica has had worse than us because she was knocked unconscious early in our last engagement. She feels utterly ashamed that she did nothing but lay there through most of the fighting."
"So when Guilliman told you that I had a plan to retake Cadia and close the rift…", I stated.
"All of us thought it was our opportunity to redeem ourselves and make the Emperor and our fallen sisters proud…", Ionica acknowledged, looking up at me, "I sincerely apologize for allow my emotions to cloud my judgement. If you so desire, I will submit myself to be affixed to a Penitent Engine."
Letting out a groan, as my team rejoined me, I shook my head and lightly bashed her on the head. Rubbing her head with a wince of pain, she looked at me in confusion.
"There is no need for that. Help me seal the Great Rift and reclaim Cadia, that will be more than sufficient repayment in everyone's eyes, I am certain of it." I sighed, as the echoes of fighting in the distance began to reach us, "Now then, I suggest we get moving and figure out who is fighting over there. There may still be a chance for us to collect data on those robots before the next shift change."
"Of course, sir, lead the way.", Ionica said, following me down the middle pathway.