The Induction of Lucius

Primarch Camelous, Master of the Dragon Lords

As he walked to the main plaza, through the deafening noise of blaring titan horns and millions of cybernetic soldiers standing at attention, Camelous noted that for the first time in his life, he felt like the situation was surreal. It paled in comparison to his arrival on Terra, but this was a different matter altogether. Things seemed to have happened in a blurr. He wore a new suit of armor, but despite its beautiful burnished silver appearance, the reason for the color was far more mundane; it had simply not been painted yet in the dark crystal blue of his legion. Yet in this moment, it seemed right to wear it like this. So many things had led to this moment, him standing on this marvel of technology. He still had trouble remembering exactly what had happened, only small moments came to mind that would normally be recalled perfectly, he was a primarch after all.

“My Lord, warriors of the Imperium,” The Magos spoke with the classic official tone that he always used, though Camelous could sense the findings had been different. There had been a team investigating this empire they were about to make first contact with. “I present to you, the Machine Cult of Lucius”.

A rough outline among the stars came on the display, denoting the area among the stars where they held influence. Camelous had been taken aback the first time he encountered something closely resembling the Machine Cult of Mars, even though the Mechanicum had little contact with them. The Mechanicum had called it a divine pattern of the Machine God. Camelous had never believed in the talk of a god, the concept was alien to him, but he was a soldier of the Imperium, so he was not bothered. What he did care about was the Mechanicum as a whole. The Mechanicum was heart of the Imperium of Mankind, and as such he held them in high regard and went out of his way to aid them wherever was required. What they had found would help the Imperium immensely, but there was hesitation in the voice of the Magos, so Camelous spoke.

“So this is it. We have confirmed the planet Lucius is within their empire?” Camelous knew the story, one’s flagship doesn’t have so many members of the Mechanicum without you getting to know their stories and legends.

A hollow Forgeworld that contained a sun inside it. Even Camelous had to admit that it sounded impossible. But the Mechanicum had searched for it for a long time, his brother Shaaa adamant that he would find and conquer this a prize for the Mechanicum. The Magos went on

“Yes. Unfortunately there are complications. Our calculations reveal with an overwhelming certainty that they will not be joining the Imperium. Under normal circumstances that is.” The holo revealed estimated troop strength, fleet powers, defenses and more. It was not uncommon for empires to feel strong enough to reject the Imperium. Camelous picked out a particular bit of information.

“Magos, can you please confirm the estimate strength of their titans?” Camelous said.

“It is accurate.” the Magos croaked.

“That is a lot of titans.” He heard Gabriel mutter.
It was. Only Legio Mortis would have been able to surpass them, and even then that would require the full strength of the Death’s Heads Titans. There was a moment of silence as Camelous considered a strategy; luckily there were a fair number of planets in the system, and hopefully the Titans would be spread out on many different worlds. If this was the case, then those worlds could be destroyed if necessary, thinning the ranks. But ultimately, he didn’t speak, such a nuclear option was counter-productive to the Imperium. They would need reinforcements if they were to conquer the system. He looked at the holochart once more before gazing back at the Magos.

“You have a plan.” Camelous stated.

The Magos’ mechadendrites moved slightly as he responded.

“A plan already in motion. The system is currently under attack by a large Ork incursion. We shall wait while the request I sent to Mars is acted upon. The Breacher Lord shall be found and tasked with joining you. Once that happens you will leverage your support for their loyalty.” the Magos responded.

Many would have said Magos had crossed the line, making such a plan without consulting the XIX legion, but Camelous had given them a lot of leeway and been ever supportive of their autonomy. Such actions mattered little, what mattered were results. But Camelous felt uneasy, he couldn’t see why. The plan was sound enough and the numbers seemed to indicate that it was the safest course of action, yet something was off.

“No,” said Camelous. There was a finality to his words, “We are going to move now.”

“If we throw ourselves into a three-way war, we won’t be able to accomplish anything, simply lose manpower.” Gabriel protested.

Gabriel, was the primarch’s protégé, and for all his immense psychic powers, had fallen short of the primarch’s hopes of becoming a replacement to the previous master of the legion. Mordred’s fall to the Eversleep still hurt. Not only had the legion lost its finest commander, but Camelous had lost the one person who he could depend on to lead the legion in case of his own death. But their war among the stars had to continue.

“We will not throw ourselves heedlessly into this war. We will make contact with the forces of Lucius first.” he said.

“I must object! They will not join the Imperium so easily, they will not bow to you!”. the Magos responded, the outrage clear in his synthesized voice.

Camelous let the silence hang for a moment before he answered

“We are going to offer the Lucians our help, not come with demands of fealty in exchange for assistance.” Camelous chided with finality.
He knew the risk. If they agreed to the aid and then refused to join the Imperium, hostilities would emerge and the Dragon Lords would be placed in a dire situation. Outnumbered, out of position and even with Shaaa arriving later, it might still not be enough. But Camelous had to trust his visions, his Emperor-given gift, and it would be a mistake to wait.

The Mechanicum elements attached to the Dragon Lords were unhappy with the decision, but would aid in the endeavor, Camelous had not led them wrong thus far. As it turned out, Camelous had been right and the number of Orks had been much greater than anticipated by the Lucians. A bitter war ensued that ultimately saw them to victory and with the Orks having been picked apart, the last desperate gambit now followed.

The Ork fleet hurled itself against the defences of Lucius, but the fleets in space and the ancient lance planetary batteries run by near unlimited power proved to be too much for the Ork fleet. And yet more and more ships threw themselves at the defences, many crash-landing, while the majority were utterly destroyed by tracer-fire. Despite so many Orks making landfall upon the surface, it was becoming clear that it would be a brutal if short-lived battle. That was until the burning Spacehulk in orbit overcharged its teleportation array, and in classic Ork fashion, defied rules of nature. Orks managed to teleport into the shielded parts of the planet, most worryingly the control room for stabilizing the core itself. Believing the planet housed a superweapon, the Warboss tore out the control cogitator, thinking it was the weapon he sought. With the shielding powering down, the miniature sun in the planet began to become unstable. Though Camelous tried teleporting as close to the entry point as possible, the radiation interference made it impossible to get within viable range. And so with no other options, he charged into the inferno. Down, down, down. The thought of all the warriors who would be turned to ash too much to bear. He remembered his armor glowing white hot. It had been made to resist melta weapons, but now it was melting away. He drew all the power from the warp he could to strengthen his body and to hasten his movement. He remembered the doubt as he ran further down. He could have ordered a retreat to orbit and salvage as much as possible. He knew that if he failed it would all be wasted. But he ran and as he encountered the dying warboss staggering on the way, he pushed him into the inferno without breaking stride. He remembered wondering if he had been wrong to start the whole conflict in the first place, as his flesh started to melt and his blood started to boil. He remembered the horrible realization as he ran that he did not know how to stop the total collapse of the star. As he reached to broken system, he realized there was nothing to do, even Shaaa or Galvarian would have needed hours to repair this ancient archeotech construction, and he didn’t have their aptitude in this realm. So with the only option left to him, he reached out with his powers in desperation, entreating the machine spirit of the Forgeworld. It was an ancient and magnificent thing; he remembered the sense of wonder as he was burning alive. Despite not comprehending how, he was finally able to calm the unhinged machine spirit and return the system to working order. Darkness gripped him then , even as the system vented the excess power; his sight and hearing gone as sensation drained from his heat-ravaged body. Yet he was at peace in that moment; he had succeeded, even if it had cost him his life.

By the time he had awoken in an infirmary on Lucius, much had happened since he had fallen. The Lucians had negotiated to join the Imperium and the Mechanicum, though certain conditions had been made clear. Lucius would serve the Mechanicum, but would not integrate completely. Rather Camelous had, in his absence, been named the ruler of the planet. He was unsure exactly why he had been chosen. Some would have named him a brother or a savior certainly, but perhaps others would see him as an absentee ruler that would allow for the Forgeworld to keep much of its independence, from the Mars dominated Mechanicum.

Camelous walked as a triumphant warrior across the plaza to be crowned. Yet it was all a façade, for the sire of the Dragon Lords, victory parades were a wasteful luxury meant to appease the masses. However, already he had plans being put to action; he had seen and fought on the moon Selindra, above Lucius prior in the war and it would be there that he would make his legion’s home among the stars.

Had he been a man prone to contemplation, he might have wondered on how he survived such annihilating fury, but it was not his way to dwell on such things. Yet the truth would be revealed eventually, when the galaxy was ablaze and it would be the cause for much regret…