Ninth Company Commander Surena was the first to jump off the Thunderhawk, and then his command team also dropped down and formed a circle to cover the landing position.
"There is no communication signal, Captain."
The technical sergeant Karl on the side said regretfully and waved the auspicious omen on his hand.
"And the auspicious device has been disturbed again. Since seventeen hours ago, it seems that this area has been shrouded in an unknown magnetic field."
"This place is lifeless. It should be a stronghold with complete facilities."
After veteran Senkara glanced left and right, he raised his right hand slightly, and his power ax drew a semicircle in the air.
Not long after the Nine Company arrived at the Slag Mountains, they immediately encountered a strange thing. The governing sage told Surena that a secondary command post had lost contact not long ago. You must know that the general command post in the Slag Mountains theater was established
It is on the highest peak, and the secondary command post is built on a mountain with a slightly lower altitude. Not only is the terrain extremely dangerous, but it is also easy to defend and difficult to attack. There are also a large number of troops stationed there. It is really abnormal that there is no news like this.
Originally, the ruling sage wanted to order the nearby Skitarii to check the situation, but it turned out that the entire command post's Skitarii had basically lost contact, and the nearby automatic soldiers had lost contact.
Surena immediately realized that this matter was not simple, so he decided to take a look for himself. He suspected that the gene stealers were probably planning a large-scale counterattack.
If this secondary command post is captured, the dragnet set by the Mechanicus will be torn open, and the enemy is likely to move or escape from this direction.
If this is the case, the Ninth Company will take it back immediately!
At this time, Thunderhawks landed one after another, and the soldiers of the Ninth Company rushed out quickly. Not only the regular soldiers, but also a small team of Terminators arrived. At the same time, two Landers and two Javelin speed attack boats also appeared from the air.
After landing, the three Storm Claws began to hover above the stronghold, reporting what they saw - this is the common situation in White Templar now, almost every company has double-digit flying or anti-gravity vehicles.
"Company Commander, the stronghold is empty... We saw nothing, no moving targets."
"Team Renault, set up a cordon and guard the landing site."
"The rest of the teams will enter from the three entrances."
After hearing the news from the aerial team, Surena began to issue orders, and the teams immediately dispersed and approached the protective wall not far away from three directions.
The gate of the stronghold was open. The soldiers held their bolters tightly, pulled out their chain swords, and walked cautiously into the protective wall. But Surena saw more. He noticed that the weapons on the protective wall were all intact.
, this means that it is not an external attack, but it stands to reason that there should be many armed servitors, but none are seen here.
"There are no traces of an external attack...Did the enemy break through from within?"
After entering the stronghold, dirty air rolled in, immediately covering the soldiers' armor with dust. The huge power generation equipment was still humming, and various ventilation ducts extended out from the closed rooms. There were many neatly installed in the stronghold.
The array of metal sheds is a common material used by the Mechanicus to build temporary strongholds. There are maintenance rooms, cleaning rooms, and dismantling rooms. The Skitarii who have experienced battles will maintain and renovate this series of equipment. The stronghold
On the west side is a heavy oval building made of a large amount of quick-drying cement and metal. It is the storage point and ammunition depot of the stronghold. On the east side are several more complete steel structure buildings, five or six stories high.
There are a large number of antennas and detectors on the top floor, which is the command post and monitoring location of the mechanical priests. Within the protective wall, you can also see more than a dozen simple towers, all of which are automatic turrets, but they are all in a sleeping state.
"Bloodstains..."
When the soldiers inspected various facilities, Surena noticed traces on the ground and the inside of the retaining walls, as well as some exterior walls, which were many radiating blood stains.
He also noticed some scars...
"It doesn't look like there's no fight."
He stood outside a steel structure shed, brushing his hand over the huge scratches on it, which looked like they were made by some kind of beast with three sharp claws, nearly one meter long...
"What could cause such scars? A pureblood Genestealer?"
Senkara on the side expressed his opinion, and then Sergeant Karl finally stood up after squatting on the ground for a long time.
"Strange... No alien biomass was detected. Didn't they bleed during the whole process?"
Then he came to the claw mark again, scratched it with a brush-like detector a few times, and then shook his head under the curious gaze of others.
"Weird, weird... Even if the gene stealer is a pure blood, his claws will not leave a trace of chitin when they scratch the alloy. This is not like it was caused by a living thing at all. The cut surface is too smooth, even from
From a microscopic level, it is difficult for a creature's claws to be so regular, it is more like... scratched by some kind of high-hardness metal."
At this time, other teams also sent messages.
"Those metal box rooms are all intact, but we found the remains of some servitors."
"The energy system is also intact, and the last adjustment record was 20 hours ago."
"There is nothing on the parapet, but the automatic turrets are closed."
"Company Commander, we found the remains of several Skitarii here in the hangar. They may have been fighting against something before they died, covering someone's retreat, but the Archaeopteryx here are all intact."
The more obvious the abnormality became, the more alert Surena became in her heart, but she could not give up this stronghold, so she ordered:
"Will, take your team to occupy those guard towers. Team Renault, come to the stronghold and be responsible for sealing the gate..."
After making these arrangements, Surena led the termination team to the core part of the stronghold, where he guessed that he might be able to find the answer.
"Have you sent a message to the governing sage?"
"It has been sent. The other party said that it is mobilizing troops to take over, but he still hopes that we can help figure out the reason."
"I'm afraid it's not that easy to figure out the reason."
During the conversation, the team approached the command center. The two doors here were engraved with images of the gears of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Surena saw that the doors and the surrounding stones were strangely deformed, and the metal turrets on both sides of the doors were also destroyed.
The solid metal was shattered by something.
A Terminator ran to the door and slammed his shoulder into the door.
With a bang, the door opened, Surena's power sword crackling with energy, and a squad of Terminators followed closely behind him, bolters ready to destroy any foe.
"Not even a body."
The interior of the command post was dark, with all lights turned off, and only wisps of pale light came in through the gaps in the blinds.
Everyone scanned the surroundings vigilantly, but nothing else appeared in the darkness. The auspicious device beat silently, first reporting a wave of false signals, and then fell silent again.
This place should have been crowded with priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus and servitors performing their respective duties.