Taddeus found himself back in the main strategeum on board the Cult's ship. He could see the model of the planet below with four indicated sites. Apparently, the decision still hasn't been made.

Their leader was not one for careful planning though and he quickly grew tired of the endless flow of data from prelimiary scans, quick fly-bys by their two bombers and geological estimates.

"Here," he pointed at one of the sites. "The Emperor wills it. We strike here."

His staff knew him well enough to comment in any other way but "Yessir!"

And so it was decided and Taddeus actually didn't mind the manner of that at all. If only more Imperial commanders were as pious.

The scouting was not for him and he had decided to stay on board and watch the situation from orbit. Emperor bless us all, wasn't that a good choice. Not because of what happened to Klovis, but because of site Alpha.

If he hadn't known Alpha was just their designation and not an official one, he would have guessed all three warlords that descended on that site did so purely because of the name. They would want to prove themselves as the true alphas here.

Taddeus asked for the ships long-range scanners to focus on that site. It was certain to be quite some spectacle. And it did not disappoint. So much that he almost missed what occured at the other site...

...

Site Charlie

The wind caressed the disturbed ground softly as if carefully trying to make sure not even a small footprint remains of the unwelcomed visitors. They were all gone now. Some disappeared underneath a cover of sand, some left in their transports. The land was tranquil again and except a few wrecks still being visible, everything was as it had been before. Yet one thing was most definitely different. Something was awaken. Something was asking questions, like

"Who were the attackers?"

[UNKNOWN SPECIES, THREAT LEVEL LOW. ALL SURVIVORS HAVE BEEN ERADICATED. THE SITE IS SECURED. ASSESSMENT OF THE ENEMY IS BEING COMPILED.]

Site Delta

Dust. Dust and sand. Calm and undisturbe- no, there is movement there. Tiny metal legs were visible for a while but gone the next moment. The strange glow coming from somewhere deep below was now but a faint memory and it was almost impossible to tell a battle had taken place here. The spirit stones and elegant armor of the dead invaders were long covered by sand and only the husk of their walking machine remained as a memento.

[BRING YOURSELF BACK, COMPILE THE REPORT AND CROSS-REFERENCE IT WITH THE ONE FROM ..... unclear signal ....... SAME ENEMY?

>NEGATIVE. THESE WERE AELDARI. WE HAVE A 98% MATCH WITH OUR ARCHIVES. ONLY THEIR WEAPONS MUST HAVE DEGRADED MASSIVELY OVER THE YEARS AS THEY WERE MOSTLY INEFFECTIVE.

YET YOU HAD TO BE RESTORED.

>CORRECT. IT WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN]

That was a close one. She lost quite a few men and machines to the Ambull and it seemed it might finish all of them off, but it had suddenly turned and run away into the distance. She thought she could hear echoes of bolter fire. Problem was, she could not tell how far it was, the Blackstone played tricks on you.

Also, it freaking changed its layout and most of the time without anyone realising it. She had long learned not to trust her senses and listen more to her gut instinct. That worked better. At first she was angry, because they had spent hours wlaking in circles but when they finally made progress she could see traces of the carnage that was wrought there.

One room was packed floor to ceiling with dead bodies. Dead orks to be more specific. They were neatly arranged, with alternating facing. There must have been hundreds of them and the smell was beyond belief.

The next room was a blood bath. Literally, no bodies, not even body parts, just blood. knee deep.

She finally discovered what she was after few minutes later. The ancient scrypt. She greedily devoured the information and searched for more. The fortress perimitted her to find two more before it unerringly shoved her in the direction it desired. Or at least that's how she thought about it. Some malevolent, rogue, god-like machine spirit.

Anyways, that was just about all she was willing to suffer there. Time to get out. She had learned the position of the planet with the city of gold and its riches were waiting.

---

"Try again!" she snapped. It was the sixth time she had said that. This time proved to be no better than the previous ones. He ship was not responding. And that, despite all her wealth, training and the size of her entourage meant just one thing - she was stranded and she was going to die here.

Her long distance radio picked signals of four other vessels. The other parties were still inside it seemed and no doubt looking for a quick route out. If they had found what she had, they would be making all haste to get to that planet.

Will they be willing to take her on, though? Perhaps. Depending on what state they arrive in. She still had a sizeable group of henchmen and lickspittles. She might make them take her if it comes to that though it would be better if they did it willingly.

The sound of guns a few hours later was a clear sign that they were coming. All will be decided soon.

The Fortress loomed ahead of them, impossibly huge as the transport ships made their way towards its surface. Every second the scanners would pick up yet another wrecked or perhaps just abandoned transport drifting idly in the void. Their crews no doubt were once as hopeful as they were now, intent to find untold riches in the black depths that according to reports seem to have a mind of their own.

Something most captains would discard as hearsay and nonsense, but they knew better. They have seen things in this universe that were beyond reason and suddenly nothing seemed impossible.

Most transport ships survived the descent towards the fortress' surface with only minor damage though there were some losses. The last thing the pilots reported were surprised shouts that "it's moving" followed by static and a little blink on their scanners.

One more drifting hulk.

But that was just the beginning of their troubles. After managing to breach the surface and get into the fortress itself they found themselves in a labyrinth of winding corridors, strangely lit rooms and doors that had a habit of appearing and disappearing on a whim.

They knew that nothing of value would be found so close to surface, not with so many treasure hunters trying their luck here. They had to go deeper, somewhere the small bands of outcasts and pirates did not dare. Then again, they were only small bands, not proper fighting body like they had.

They delved deeper, covering corners, ready to engage any hostiles but the fortress was silent. The swift progress lasted for four hours. At that time the fortress had finally seemed to notice their presence.

At was soon after they encountered strange glyphs and writings on the walls in a runic scrypt none of them new but still could somehow subconscioussly understand. They spoke of some great culture with earth-shattering weapons and relics of unconceivable power. Definitely something worth investigating further, yet the fortress had other plans.

With a cracking sound, the walls around them began to move. Some transformed into vast horizontal shafts and many lives were lost in the great depths tumbling to their death. Doors opened and closed at a whim, deadly traps sprang and more lives were snuffed. After an hour or so, the fortress calmed down.

The leader of a great host suddenly found himself alone in the dark.

After a while she heard shots and shouts recognizing an element of her force. She began to run.