[ominous music]
[aircraft engines]
[mechanical clanking]
[rustling]
Cease movement.
Vigilance protocol.
[mechanical robot whirring]
Yes, Orks...
Large numbers.
Distance, one thousand, six hundred and forty
to two thousand, seven hundred and sixty feet.
Estimated probability of evading threat...
Fifteen point two-six percent.
[atmospheric electronic music]
[Tech-priest] Spirit of this machine, accept my will.
[mechanical robot whirring]
The archeotech we seek is lost knowledge.
To reclaim such knowledge is revelation.
Revelation is worth any expenditure of energy, material or life.
Therefore we must proceed.
No matter the risk.
You understand this, I know.
No blasphemy of intelligence touches you.
You are a component of divinity,
therefore in the spirit that moves in electro and gear, you understand.
I give unto thy mechanisms the command to protect.
[mechanical robot whirring]
Spirit of this machine, heed my will.
[roaring]
Aegis protocol!
[tense music]
[grunting, roaring]
[roaring]
[groaning]
[roaring]
[groaning]
Spirit of destruction, do not fail in thy function!
[roaring]
[mechanical robot whirring]
[groaning]
[powers up, chimes]
[ork grunts]
[roaring]
[tense music]
[laughing]
[rapid gunfire]
[orks groaning]
[welding sparks]
[atmospheric electronic music]
May the sacred charge and blessed connection of gears
forgive the crudeness of my ministrations.
[Tech-priest] Ammunition levels fifty-four percent.
Fuel cell capacity fifty-one percent...
Without replacement of damaged components,
motive capacity is projected at sixty-one percent of optimal.
The probability of us reaching the archeotech,
I would estimate at no more than...
twenty-five point two three percent.
[mechanical robot whirring]
It is not a pessimistic calculation.
[mechanical robot whirring]
Logic and truth do not allow for hope.
To hope is to listen to the weakness of flesh.
To calculate is divine.
This chain of logic is correct and what is correct is sacred.
[mechanical robot whirring]
There is no sacrifice that shall not be paid for knowledge.
Both the sacrifice and the knowledge
are the blessed fulfilment of function.
[mechanical robot whirring]
[Tech-priest] Spirit of this machine, heed my will.
Follow.
[mechanical clanking]
Cease motion.
Firelight.
Spectral signature indicates promethium combustion
mixed with other low grade combustible material.
[mechanical robot whirring]
A fire set to give light and sanctuary...
possibly.
Initiate auspex scan.
[scanning whir]
A human?
Re-scan and confirm.
[scanning whir]
The probability that they will be able to assist us is low.
But the improbable is still possible.
[sombre pensive music]
[sighs]
[gasps]
[mechanical clanking]
[man whimpers]
[mechanical clanking]
[man trembling]
[gasps]
It would be illogical to fire.
I mean you no immediate harm.
[sighs]
[mechanical robot whirring]
Vigilance protocol.
[mechanical robot whirring]
While the combustion of promethium provides heat and illumination,
in current atmospheric conditions, its light will be perceivable
up to a distance of approximately three point one three miles.
Additionally, your biological sight
will be limited in acuity by its illumination.
The fire is not advisable.
You are...
you are with the Mechanicus.
Confirmed.
[Soldier] I...
[Soldier] I thought there were no other survivors.
I haven't seen anyone else out here...
[Tech-priest] The forces of the Imperium and the Adeptus Mechanicus
destroyed sufficient numbers of the Orks
to render their invasion non-viable.
The battle was a victory by the standard military criteria.
- We won? - Confirmed.
[laughs]
Then we are saved.
We just need to reach the rest of the Imperial forces...
[Tech-priest] The majority of the forces opposing the Ork invasion
have been withdrawn.
But... but the Orks are still here.
I've seen them.
Hundreds of them.
The numerical value of Orks on the surface
has been deemed no longer a threat,
and the forces of the Imperium are needed elsewhere.
This world is ruined, its productivity degraded.
Its value is lower than others
that might still be protected, therefore this...
is victory.
It is a simple calculation.
[sighs]
So...
no one is coming.
I am alone...
[Soldier] Then...
then what are you doing here?
[Tech-priest] I have a function to fulfil.
But you said that the Imperial forces have withdrawn?
The Machine is eternal and so is its truth.
No will of man can undo that axiom.
I am a tooth of the turning cog of knowledge.
[Tech-priest] Battles occur.
Flesh fails and rots, but the quest for knowledge remains.
A quest?
[Soldier] So... you are looking for something?
I seek an archeotech device that has lain hidden on this world.
Archeotech?
[gasps]
Is it valuable?
The data indicates that the archeotech I seek
is a form of electro-ferro-infusion.
Both a power source and a means of metallic regeneration.
If it is preserved and its secrets replicated,
it will unlock the function of countless other machines.
The use and implications of this technology are profound.
Worlds can be rebuilt.
Legions made whole.
Wars won.
The value of such a device cannot be quantified.
[sighs]
I don't understand...
Of course you do not.
The existence of this archeotech is a secret.
No others from my order know of its location.
That is why I alone remain to find it.
[Tech-priest] Some things are too valuable to trust to others.
COMBAT PROWESS MUSCLE MASS
- But... you're telling me? - The knowledge I transmit to you
is payment for the aid I require from you.
But, you are going to take me with you.
Aren't you?
[Tech-priest] Negative.
COMPONENT MATCH
COMPATABILITY ADEQUATE
[whimpering]
Knowledge gives meaning to sacrifice.
[Tech-priest] Knowledge gives meaning to sacrifice.
[welding sparks]
The probability of encountering further enemy combatants
is ninety-six point five six percent.
If we cannot overcome them,
then we will not recover the archeotech.
The archeotech must be recovered.
Therefore your optimal function must be restored.
This act was necessary.
[Tech-priest] I could not let you fail.
Who else is there to help me?
Spirit of this machine, you are made whole again.
[mechanical clanking]
We will now proceed.
Follow.
[mechanical robot whirring]
The fire can remain.
It is irrelevant.
[mechanical clanking]
[tense music]
[atmospheric electronic music]
[mechanical clanking]
ARCHEOTECH LOCATION
[ork roars]
[distant ork roaring]
[roaring]
Spirit of this machine, heed my will.
Aegis protocol.
[roaring]
[rapid gunfire]
[roaring]
Follow.
Spirit of this machine, heed my will.
Kill protocol!
[alarm sound]
[panting]
[gasps]
[roaring]
[orks grunting]
[gasps]
[straining]
[wind howling faintly]
Spirits of this portal.
I speak the key and invoke thee.
[tense music]
[axes slamming on metal]
Sacred Omnissiah,
governor of the turning of cog and the transmission of charge,
your servant supplicates itself
before this manifestation of your divinity.
Forgive thy servant for my haste.
[roars]
[buzzing]
[rapid gunfire]
[ork roaring]
[roaring]
[sombre music]
[Tech-priest gasping]
Spirit of this machine, heed my will.
[powering down]
[wind howling faintly]
[wind howling]
[atmospheric electronic music]
OUTCOME UNKNOWN
[whispering] Spirit of this machine, heed my will and command...
Rise.
[rising mechanical noise]
The flesh is weak, but...
the machine is eternal.
[mechanical robot whirring]
If I had not used the device, then you would no longer function.
The existence of further archeotech on this planet is possible.
The loss of the device was a certainty
if I had not used it to restore your function.
Therefore, the use and exhaustion of the device
allowed the quest for knowledge to continue.
This chain of logic is correct, and what is correct is sacred.
I cannot continue alone.
POTENTIAL ARCHEOTECH LOCATION
PROBABILITY 00.1%
[pensive music]
Spirit of this machine, heed my will...
Follow.
[tense music]
KILL PROTOCOL