The final resolution of the League Council was executed with grim efficiency.
The major Leagues resorted to a lottery to determine which specific Clans would forfeit their Cores. The unfortunate Kin selected were forced to surrender their Ancestors, though the Leagues collectively pledged that these bereft Clans would be provided with new Ancestor Cores and advanced technologies in the future to compensate for their ultimate sacrifice.
To avert further catastrophic losses, the operational capacity of the entire Votann union was pushed to its absolute threshold.
Scarcely six hours later, five Bastion-class commercial freighters, distinguished only by minor variations in livery and markings, were assembled. Each vessel carried an Ancestor Core from its respective League.
These massive commercial haulers were designed not only with cavernous holds for transporting trade goods and ores but were also bristling with defensive weaponry and void shields comparable in strength to those of an Imperial Battleship. They had no intention of allowing their precious Ancestors to be lost to some stray void-hazard before the exchange could even be made.
Hordes of Kin knelt before the Cores, weeping and offering litanies of regret and guilt. They spoke of their willingness to give everything for the Ancestors, yet confessed that in the face of the Iron Men's genocidal pressure, they were forced to yield. This concession was made not only for the survival of the Votann race but to ensure the continued existence of the remaining Cores.
However, the gargantuan mechanical constructs offered only faint, rhythmic hums in response, a sound that felt to the Kin like a solemn reassurance of their choice.
Only the Ancestor Core of the Kronus Hegemony flickered with a distinct, angry red light, pulsing as if in silent condemnation of the gathered Kin. Yet, as the Votann possessed no inherent mobility or vocal apparatus, it could only cycle through hues of luminescence to manifest its profound displeasure.
Led by a ship of the Greater Thurian League, the five freighters began their transit toward Axion's coordinates.
The moment the fleet dropped out of the Warp, proximity klaxons screamed in unison. Even without the warnings, the crews could see through the viewing ports that the massive weapon maws of the silver ships surrounding them were already locked onto their hulls.
"Warning, Votann. You have entered the defensive perimeter of the fleet. Deactivate all propulsion immediately and state your intent."
The mechanical warning echoed through the vox-casters of every Votann vessel. Having consumed a vast number of Votann ships previously, Axion found the communication encryption of the "space dwarfs" to be utterly transparent.
"We have brought the Ancestor Cores," Uthar replied immediately from the lead ship, transmitting back through the same signal source.
After a brief pause, a vast green holographic zone manifested in the void.
"Follow the guidance vectors and hold position within the green sector."
The hololith shone with blinding clarity against the dark. As the six ships drifted into their designated slots, the crews were struck by a paralyzing sense of awe and dread. Resistance, they realized, might have been a fool's errand from the start. While the Votann were capable of constructing stellar megastructures, a fleet of this scale was simply beyond their comprehension.
Indeed, to both the Votann and the Imperium, the Iron Man fleet defied logic. The thought processes of pure machine-intelligence differed fundamentally from those of biological entities.
The Imperium was constantly throttled by a lack of trained crew, forcing them to compromise on ship design and doctrine. The Votann fared similarly; as products of genetic engineering, the growth of their social web was a slow process of cultivation and adjustment to maintain diversity.
For the Iron Men, however, the process was binary: activate the assembly lines, pour in the raw minerals, load the templates, deconstruct, and reconstruct. They replicated base-level intelligences, allowing each unit to either develop its own distinct personality or remain a standardized cog in the machine. As long as they possessed the capacity for self-update and evolution, an Iron Man remained "one" individual, even if it eventually replaced its entire physical form with a mechanical planet.
As the Votann ships powered down, Axion deployed several transport craft. Given the cramped, low-ceilinged corridors of Votann architecture, he chose not to send physical automata. Instead, the transports were filled with nanite swarms.
As the transports latched onto the hulls of the Votann ships, the nanite swarms flowed from the landing struts like living quicksilver, permeating the metal skin of the vessels.
Axion achieved a total system breach in seconds. He instantly siphoned the data from the Fane Cores linked to the ships. The silver nanites moved without hesitation, flowing through the corridors like a stream of liquid chrome until they reached the cargo bays housing the Ancestor Cores.
The Hearthkyn watched in paralyzed terror as the silver liquid surged past them, some even finding their ankles submerged in the tide. But no violence followed. The nanites flowed like harmless water, leaving no trace upon the metal decking.
This silver tide was the very reason the Votann had been unable to hold their ground. They had fought with everything they had; during the earlier invasions of the Hearthworlds, Einhyr Champions and elite warriors armed with Darkstar weaponry had achieved brief, localized victories.
Yet the silver tide seemed indifferent to Darkstar tech. Weapons that could force a hard-shutdown on a gargantuan automaton could not extinguish the silver waves themselves. Once a warrior was engulfed by the tide, they simply vanished. Even their weapons were devoured, leaving only trace amounts of Darkstar matter behind.
Moreover, the silver tide did more than just destroy; it erased the gains of the defenders. Deactivated machines were re-booted; shattered automata were reconstructed on the spot. Every "effective" strike, whether from bolt or beam, seemed to have a timer placed upon its success. The waves were infinite.
The Votann representatives followed the silver stream into the freighter's hold. They stood in a tense semi-circle, desperate to know what these horrific machines intended to do to the heart of their race.
The nanite swarm transitioned from a liquid state into a shimmering silver mist, enveloping the Ancestor Core in a silent shroud.
The Hearthkyn watched, bewildered.
Then, only seconds later, the silver mist recoiled as if startled. It surged away from the Ancestor Core, punched through the ship's bulkheads, and vanished into the void.
Minutes passed. One by one, the strange transports attached to the outer hulls ignited their engines and departed.
"What... what happened?"
Before anyone could process the event, the voice of an Ironkin on the bridge crackled over the internal comms.
"By the Ancestors... the silver fleet is igniting its engines! What are they doing?"
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