[ IP ] Superiority of the Machine

Not sure how this will turn out, feedback is appreciated. 
 
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
 
 Eshtus 3 reminded Igor Blaylock of Mars, in many ways. The persistent dust, the blasted landscape, the constant deep rumbles and thuds of his armoured column marching through the wastes. It was on Eshtus 3 that Igor was tasked with discerning the Source of an anomalous energy signature, and securing it in the name of Omnissiah and Mechanicum, and, his wistfulness not withstanding, this was the day that he would claim this miracle of technology and a place along the famed Magos of this millenium. 
 
 Pity about the Waaagh perched atop his prize. 
 
 -- - 
 
 Inix was not a common Tech-priest, preferring her posting at the front lines of a cohort of Skitarii rather than the support lines, awaiting the return of damaged machines to soothe their spirits and mend their forms. It was here that she received her first order: to assault the Ork lines in force and, once viable, get them away from the Source as soon as possible. Magos Baylock felt that Ignix's normal compliment of Dragoons and Dunewalkers had a low probability to inflict sufficient impact to make the greenskins displace, and had therefore sent her a detachment of Knights to add some much desired staying power. 
 
 Ignix's mechadendrites twitched at the slight, but she was hardly going to complain about the result. She'd expected a few more Mangonels, maybe some tanks, but never had she cogitated the allocation of Knights! She would not waste this opportunity to prove herself a capable commander of such assets, as her access to them would live and die upon her actions here. 
 
 -- - 
 
 Greenskin artillery works on a relatively simple principle: if ya shoot enuf stuff at em, den yuse gon na zog em right good! Assuming Ignix's translation subroutines were operating within acceptable tolerances, this meant two things: Primus, that those wrecks on the crest of the hill a few kilometres ahead were in fact operational artillery batteries, and not *just* piles of scrap. 
 
 Secundus, that she was in range and under fire from same. 
 
 `` 01010111 01100101 01101100 01101100 00100000 01110011 01101000 01101001 01110100 00101110'', she intoned to herself, and made ready for combat maneuvers. The Machines of Mars are not the like to fall to Ork ballistics! 
 And if she gripped her powered wrench just a little harder, she might begin believe that. 
 
 -- - 
 
 Much of her mantiple had scattered under the suppressive fire from the greenskins, but Ignix marched forward with all the determination that could be found in her construction. For all the losses she'd taken to this point, the Knights remained steadfast, shrugging off what few rounds actually managed to hit them. The Orks were moving a column of scavenged tanks to meet them head on, and that was their mistake. 
 
 -- - 
 
 Igor Baylock was satisfied. The xenos were moving from his precious Source to meet the Knights head on. Whether Ignix survived was irrelevant, he would use his Warlord-class Titan, Olympus' Glare, to scour the greenskins from this world, should any survive, and claim his prize. 
 
 His combined mantiples surged towards the Source, as eagerly as any of the Priests of Mars could chase information - those with free will knew it was for the betterment of Mankind, and those without only knew that it was their current reason for existing. Glory to the Machine God! 
 
 -- - 
 
 Magos Igor Baylock recovered an ancient archive, containing 4 STC templates, an unparalleled success. These templates contained: 
 
 001 ) Hair curler featuring a self-contained power cell made to last at least 400 years, 
 010 ) Monomolecular scour for removing paint from starship hulls, 
 011 ) Data storage device not currently compatible with any known systems 
 100 ) Plasma focusing array, allowing a 20 % increase in plasma weaponry range. This configuration eliminates dangerous overheating. 
 
 In recognition of this outcome, Magos Igor Baylock was made Fabricator Primus of forge world Albert IV where he is to produce his claimed templates so long as he functions. 
 
 Ignix did not survive the encounter with the Orks. Her internal cogitators were recovered, and are currently awaiting decompilation for analysis and possible inclusion in a future layer of combat data.
