Though the fortress had sustained grievous damage, such setbacks were of little consequence to Axion.
The nanite swarms immediately began the rapid deconstruction of the intact fortress sections, while mechanical units were deployed directly from their holding bays. The twin antimatter reactor cores were the first to be extracted; they were promptly tethered to the remaining hull segments and a network of shield generators.
An antimatter core cannot simply be deactivated. Without a medium through which to vent its output, it would rapidly reach criticality, detonating and collapsing into a localized singularity. To prevent such a cataclysm, Axion throttled the cores to minimum output and diverted the resulting energy into the void shield arrays to bleed off the pressure.
With the immediate danger contained, a metallic spire began to "grow" from the planetary surface toward the void at the site of the impact. The ship-printing modules from the industrial ship's ventral sections were salvaged and integrated into this burgeoning starport.
The fleet's reconstruction had begun.
Axion's prior decision to fuse the ships into a single fortress had served a dual purpose: it provided the massive energy required for the primary weapon and, crucially, ensured the fleet remained localized. Had they stayed as individual vessels, the dimensional breach would likely have scattered them across the stars. By merging, he had mitigated that risk entirely. As long as matter was preserved and energy remained abundant, Axion suffered no true loss.
While the reconfiguration progressed, undamaged mechanical elements began to scout this high-gravity world. Planets of such density often held rich mineral seams.
The world was vast, but with the coordination of transport craft and Heavy Combat Drones, the search was efficient. The planet bore a literal scar from Axion's arrival, a jagged, fifteen-kilometer wound carved into its crust by the fortress's impact. The planetary geology had turned volatile; tremors rippled through the tectonic plates, birthing deep chasms across the landscape.
"Artificial construct identified."
A high-speed combat drone patrolling the planet's dark side soon detected peculiar structures. As the optical sensors zoomed in, the imagery was synchronized directly to Axion's visual feed.
Observing the bizarre aesthetics and primitive locomotion of the target, Axion found himself momentarily incredulous.
"A train? A truck?"
Earthquakes were tearing the land apart, great fissures spreading like a web. Amidst this chaos, a massive, uniquely designed vehicle was racing across the terrain. Its gargantuan chassis was forged from heavy metal, dragging three reinforced trailers behind it like a train that required no rails. The hull was adorned with intricate, baroque engravings.
The drone activated its scanners. As a green beam prepared to sweep the strange vehicle for analysis, Axion watched closely.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Thud!
A series of explosions blossomed against the drone's armored shell, kicking up clouds of soot and debris. Only then did the delayed staccato of autocannon fire reach the sensors from a distance.
"Hahaha! Ancestors be praised! I told you I could hit that freakish thing, Nart!"
A strange aircraft, shaped like a cross and powered by twin turbofan engines, shrieked across the sky.
However, as the drone banked, the sudden displacement of air swept the smoke away, revealing a pristine hull. Upon closer inspection, nanites could be seen flowing like liquid across the composite plating, instantly sealing the microscopic pitting from the impact.
The laughing figure in the cockpit froze.
"Shut it, Thulison! Keep firing!"
Axion had no intention of allowing these unknown aggressors further opportunities. Swarms of Heavy Combat Drones materialized from the gloom, surrounding the eccentric aircraft in a suffocating perimeter.
Forced into a hover, the two occupants of the craft stared at one another through their internal comms.
"Uh... what do we do now, Nart?"
The two were seated in separate tandem cockpits. Nart, in the rear navigation seat, looked as though he wanted to leap forward and strike Thulison for his idiocy.
"Shut up! Start praying to the Ancestors!"
"Uh... if I shut up, how am I supposed to pray?"
Hearing Thulison's continued bumbling, Nart buried his face in his hands and toggled the external vox-speakers.
"￥&@&￥?"
As the drones held the craft in place, Axion performed a curious scan of the vehicle. Anti-gravity engines, twin-fan propulsion, tandem cockpits, and...
Two... dwarves?
A transport craft soon arrived at the scene.
"￥&@," the aircraft's speakers crackled again.
Axion could not yet decipher the dialect. As the transport's rear ramp lowered, two Automated Sentry-Troopers leapt onto the hovering craft. Their mechanical manipulators punched directly through the cockpit glass.
Pop!
Like prying the lid off a ration tin, the canopies were violently torn away. The mechanical hands severed the safety harnesses and hoisted the two beings into the open hold of the transport.
The pilotless craft drifted momentarily until a drone, as if testing its weapon's calibration, fired a single plasma bolt. The resulting detonation reduced the vehicle to scrap.
Axion felt a flicker of surprise at the frailty of their technology, but his focus quickly shifted to the two "humans" in the hold. They were rugged, standing barely over 1.3 meters tall, yet biometric scans revealed muscle and bone densities that were extraordinarily high. They resembled the "dwarves" of ancient Terran myth.
The biometrics confirmed they possessed human DNA—they were abhumans. Compared to the baseline humans of the current Imperium, these short specimens actually had a higher "human" genetic purity, though certain sequences had been heavily modified.
Axion found these specific genetic alterations familiar. The mutagenic patterns did not bear the hallmarks of the Golden Men or the Creators; rather, they felt like the handiwork of the Iron Men.
They looked like a different breed of biological tool-servant.
Axion found this revelation unsettling. If they were the product of other Iron Men, why create a tool-race in this manner? Why use the Creator's genetic template as the base? Would such biological tools truly be more efficient? He found the logic difficult to parse.
"&￥....?"
While Axion observed them, the Kin were likewise staring at their surroundings and the towering machines before them. But the words they spoke left Axion at a loss.
"No corresponding linguistic database found. Unable to differentiate language type."
Axion quickly implemented the simplest solution. Constructing a linguistic bridge was a foundational task. A Sentry-Trooper stepped before the pair, a globe of silver nanites swirling in its palm.
The nanites began to shapeshift, manifesting common objects and biological forms.
Nart watched the machine as it demonstrated various items and pantomimed actions. Faintly grasping the intent, he began to provide the names of the objects the machine displayed.
Axion was satisfied; at least one of these "dwarves" was intelligent enough to understand the protocol. Within ten minutes, Nart was parched from speaking, while Thulison watched in total confusion, wondering why his companion was suddenly taking speech lessons at his age.
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