Coronid New Zone, Lament System.
Flamini, due to his merits in the Gardinaal Campaign, had taken command of the 4th Company after its Captain fell.
Clad in Saturnine-pattern Terminator armor prototype, manufactured on Cyclothrathe, he led his Command Squad towards the teleportation platform.
His raised left leg paused momentarily in mid-air before landing.
The Seer felt a hazy mist shrouding the teleportation platform.
The mist vanished in an instant. He frowned.
As a "Lucky One," he was certain today was his lucky day, yet he had just sensed a hint of foreboding.
"Company Captain, is something wrong?" The Command Squad Captain noticed his Commander's anomaly and asked, puzzled.
Flamini did not answer immediately. His eyes deepened. He looked up.
His gaze pierced the barrier between reality and the Warp. Having fully mastered the power of the "Robot," he saw more than before.
He saw the vortex formed by shapeless colors, nameless emotions, and unwarranted dimensions.
He also saw delicate, thread-like strands merging into the trickles of future events.
Controlling his pre-battle emotions with the recently acquired craft of the Thousand Sons' Corvidae Cult, Flamini ensured his gaze did not disturb everything around him.
The moment his gaze immersed itself in the flowing stream, he saw layer upon layer of metal.
He tried to discern more clearly, when suddenly the layers of metal shattered inch by inch, as if crushed by some force field.
'Metal... shattered…'
'Among the materials issued by Father, the Basemekanic have metallic hides.'
'The revelation I received is that we will tear the xenos apart?'
Interpreting the revelation of his divination, Flamini reached an uncertain conclusion.
The "Lucky One's" high inspiration told him something was still wrong.
He had a premonition that on this lucky day, he would encounter some setbacks.
"Company Captain, the teleportation point has been located."
Within the hexagonal area of adamantine pillars, the force field crackled.
The teleportation operator reported, "Ready, my Lord."
Flamini continued walking forward. After reconfirming that, overall, today would go smoothly for him, he spoke to his Command Squad Captain in a normal tone.
"It's nothing."
The Command Squad Captain breathed a sigh of relief and followed his Commander.
As a newly promoted "Robot," he was no stranger to his Commander's anomalies.
Having gone through the newly "Monster" sequence, he often had sudden, strange feelings, sometimes appearing abnormally dazed in the eyes of his battle-brothers.
As he pondered, he had already followed his Commander onto the teleportation platform.
"Activate teleportation."
Electricity leaped suddenly, screened by curtains, sparing the Chapter's serf's' eyes.
Flamini immediately felt a chill intruding his body. He keenly sensed something wrong. It was colder than during past teleportation rune jumps, as if he were suspended over a bottomless abyss.
'The Basemekanic ship has a device that interferes with teleportation.'
As this thought arose, he felt as if falling into an iceberg.
The teleportation was in progress, and he was neither a Daemonologist nor a Telekines. In this situation, he was helpless.
Instinctively defying the Imperial Truth, Flamini sought asylum from his gene-father.
'Father, please protect me!'
Only when his boots touched the solid deck did Flamini breathe a sigh of relief. He exclaimed devoutly,
"Praise the Gene-Father!"
Flamini's relief turned to sorrow in an instant.
The "Lucky One" sensed a command squad member wedged into a metal wall, another hanging from a metal pillar dangling from the ceiling.
He grasped his surroundings. Inside the Basemekanic ship, the bulkheads were roughly four times thicker than those on human ships.
The entire deck was covered with various metal objects: metal pillars hanging from the ceiling, metal spikes covering the floor...
'A catastrophic teleportation!'
Flamini also noticed Basemekanic charging towards him.
They were tall, a third taller than him in his Saturnine-pattern Terminator prototype.
Within their metallic hides were creatures like yaks, covered in dense, pitch-black hair.
Rows of skulls hung on their chests.
They roared like beasts, swinging spiked metal clubs with thick arms as they charged.
The "Lucky One" intuitively sensed that the Basemekanic, sprinting at full speed, hadn't spent any time observing their surroundings.
Their beast-like instincts let them race swiftly between metal pillars and spikes, completely unaffected.
"Attack!" Flamini shouted on the comm channel.
The reactor of the Saturnine-pattern Terminator prototype thundered. The plasma bombardment gun roared, spitting a beam at the xenos.
Flamini saw the blinding beam slam into the Basemekanic's head.
Strands of black hair vaporized instantly. The xenos's head was suddenly bald, but it didn't fall.
The bizarre, layered metal hide on the center of its head was noticeably thicker than elsewhere.
There, it had stopped the plasma cannon's attack.
'Formidable defense, even stronger than power armor!'
Realizing the Basemekanic's terrifying defenses, Flamini immediately ordered on the comm channel.
"Flank attack!"
"Target their hair!"
Missiles trailing light soared from above Flamini's head, flying towards the eleven o'clock direction.
BOOM!
Flamini saw the armor-piercing missile tear apart the beast's huge head. The dense hair vaporized instantly, but its metallic hide remained intact.
The black metal-hulled body, propelled by inertia, crashed to the floor with a rumble.
Just as Flamini prepared to fire his recharged plasma cannon again, he suddenly felt a chill to his right.
'Teleportation!'
He worried for the battle-brothers about to arrive on the battlefield. He raised his arm, firing towards the two o'clock direction, while turning to look.
Light flared. Before it dissipated, the "Lucky One" had already identified the arrival.
Chapter Master Pasqual!
His pupils instinctively contracted. He had already foreseen Pasqual's unfortunate future.
Pasqual's body materialized onto a spike. Then his Saturnine-pattern Terminator armor. Finally, the conversion field enveloping the armor.
In the physical world, this all happened within a second. But in this unfortunate teleportation, there was a distinct sequence.
The spike pierced Pasqual's left leg, then lodged in the Saturnine-pattern Terminator prototype armor. The protruding portion was then shredded by the conversion field.
Even through the conversion field and thick Saturnine-pattern Terminator armor, the "Lucky One" could see the meter-long metal spike transfixing the left leg, twisted and卡住 within the armor.
He also sensed that a member of the Chapter Master's Honor Guard had been teleported into a metal pillar, forever fused with it.
'Compared to the Chapter Master, compared to the others, I am the "Lucky One" in this unfortunate teleportation.'
The "Lucky One" sensed a beast-like Basemekanic break through the fire zone, charging at Pasqual.
He immediately moved. The power claw on his left arm crackled, colliding with the metal club.
CLANG, CLANG, CLANG!
In a series of impacts, Flamini's body swayed.
'Terrible, beast-like strength.'
He slid his feet, luring the Basemekanic away from Pasqual, while switching comm channels, shouting to the Chapter Master.
"My Lord, the teleportation must be stopped immediately!"
Flamini ducked behind a pillar. He raised his arm, ready to blast the beast xenos with plasma.
THUMP, THUMP, THUMP!
The Basemekanic's club slammed into the metal pillar.
'Hmm?'
The "Lucky One" hadn't expected the xenos's beast instincts to err, but he immediately seized the opportunity. His power claw shot up, driving into the Basemekanic's right side.
The force field crackled, tearing through the elbow and rear part of the arm unprotected by metallic hide.
With a crash, the metal-hulled forearm hit the ground.
The moment Flamini raised his power claw again, he heard the Chapter Master's voice on the Chapter comm channel.
"Honor Guard, all Companies, cease teleportation!"
Flamini breathed a sigh of relief. He drove his lightning claw savagely into the Basemekanic's ribs, through the dense hair.
As the body crashed to the floor with a rumble, he saw two beast xenos swinging their metal clubs madly at Pasqual.
Flamini immediately attacked, supporting Pasqual.
Missiles soared. Plasma beams, like solar flares, lanced towards the two xenos.
With a resounding THUD, Pasqual's left leg was struck.
He stumbled and knelt. The other beast xenos, grinning savagely, swung its club, smashing into his helmet.
CRASH...
Flamini saw the two Basemekanic and his Chapter Master collapsed together. He sensed only thirteen Saturnine-pattern Terminator prototypes remained around him.
The Command Squad Captain walked to his side. The roars of beasts rose from all around, growing louder.
"The xenos have a teleportation jamming device. We cannot risk another teleportation."
"We will have no support for the time being."
"Company Captain, your orders?"
.....
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