"BOOM!"
Immense explosions continued to convulse the planet's surface. Even thousands of metres beneath the ground, a subtle tremor was still perceptible.
"Let me ascertain the nature of this event."
Axion, having replaced several key components, tested his newly serviced chassis. He remotely accessed the residual facilities of the maintenance centre to acquire ambient data.
Though he could not gain a direct visual feed of the surface, Axion's Golden Age-era computational core possessed the sheer processing power to reconstruct the surface state using only the energy signatures and oscillation frequencies transmitted underground.
"Hmm? The planet is under orbital bombardment? How is this possible? This location is the Halo Stars Cluster, near the Segmentum Obscurus. Has the Federation truly fallen?"
"According to the records, the Vostroya system is adjacent. If the data is correct, this appears to be an Industrial World. The Federation would never abandon an Industrial World so readily."
"What are these bombers targeting?"
To ascertain the current situation, Axion had to find a way to gather intelligence from the surface.
With his core processing at maximum velocity, several War Ravens were activated from the maintenance centre's secure armoury.
These variable-geometry automatons, once employed for long-duration aerial reconnaissance during surface engagements, possessed a V-shaped structure, earning their name from a distant resemblance to the ancient creature, the raven.
A micro-neutron-beam emitter was suspended beneath their chassis, capable of discharging energy beams nearly six times the potency of the modern Imperial Laser Gun. They were ideal for wide-area harassment and the destruction of lightly armoured targets.
Several tubular launch bays began to pressurize. These conduits, barely forty centimetres in diameter, stretched from the subterranean armouries to the surface. Though the relentless bombardment had warped some of the pathways, it did not prevent Axion from using them to launch the War Ravens onto the surface.
"Boom! Boom!"
With a series of muffled impacts, over a dozen War Ravens were launched to the surface from the network of launch tubes.
The alloy chassis shrieked with an unbearable metallic friction as they scraped past the deformed sections of the conduits.
The concealed exit points, long since buried by millennia of detritus and dust, were violently forced open by the impact of the automatons. The immense kinetic force caused the foremost few War Ravens to be instantly obliterated upon impact with the heavy soil and rubble, destroyed before they could deploy.
On the surface, a sudden burst of dust and flying debris erupted from an inconspicuous corner of a small hill.
From the swirling cloud of dust, several dark shapes ascended.
Upon exiting the conduits, the War Ravens swiftly activated their transformation protocols. Despite the varying degrees of degradation and damage from their prolonged slumber, they could still barely maintain flight capability.
As the concealed rear-thrust units engaged, an imperceptible particle stream began to jet forth.
The War Ravens rapidly climbed in altitude, commencing reconnaissance across a radius of several thousand kilometres.
Based on the database records, this planet was originally a desolate world. Yet, the video data relayed back startled Axion.
"When did human life begin inhabiting this world? And why is the architecture of this city so bizarre?"
The city in the visual feed bore no resemblance to the Federation cities in his records. The style was utterly alien, yet the statuary and copious ornamentation suggested it was a city belonging to the Cult Mechanicus (Mechanicum). The conspicuous cog and skull motif, alongside the imposing industrial structures, left no doubt that no other faction would adorn a Hive City in such a fashion.
"The symbol of the Adeptus Mechanicus?"
Leveraging the War Ravens' ultra-high-precision optical sensors, the vessels raining shells from low orbit were instantly fed into Axion's visual field.
The sight of these vessels shocked him.
"What strange objects are these? Bio-ships? They don't seem entirely organic. They share some elements with a Federation Strike Cruiser, yet why do they appear so grotesque?"
The ships in space were adorned with strange, spiked protuberances and lacked the familiar symbols of the human Federation. Their hulls were covered in a substance that resembled proliferating, organic growth.
"Federation vessels, commandeered and controlled by xenos lifeforms?"
The current situation bewildered Axion. The systems' reserved records contained no mention of such an enemy, and even his core data could not find any similar Federation units.
"It seems the Federation is profoundly different from its past state before I was awakened. I wonder if there have been new technological developments? Perhaps this is something more advanced? But what is this strange parasitic organism?"
Axion displayed intense curiosity toward the unknown.
"Nevertheless, I must first resolve this continuous orbital bombardment. If the structure collapses, it will require considerable effort merely to exit the maintenance centre."
The psychic core accelerated its computations, and all available equipment within the facility began rapid self-diagnosis.
Many modules in the list began to change state in the core data, with numerous function modules defaulting to an inactive grey status after self-checking.
However, a few modules miraculously passed the diagnostic and turned green, indicating a 'Ready' state.
Among all the green entries, Axion quickly identified the weapon he needed.
The Fragmentation Cannon.
This was a colossal ship-mounted weapon typically fitted to standard Battleships.
Though Axion's core data offered no explanation as to why a maintenance facility possessed a super-heavy turret modified from such a gigantic ship weapon, its use was clearly appropriate now. Furthermore, this massive weapon was the only module that had successfully completed its self-check and could be activated.
This cannon possessed sufficient power to instantly destroy the Strike Cruisers mentioned in his data. A direct hit would utterly shatter both the hull and the shield. Even equal-class Battleships or massive flagships would rarely emerge unscathed. Even the largest vessel currently fielded by the Imperium, the Phalanx, could not withstand simultaneous barrages from multiple Fragmentation Cannons.
Following Axion's command, a mountain on the surface began to rumble and disintegrate. A massive foundation appeared at the base of the mountain, and with the grinding of machinery, a gigantic metallic gun turret rose onto the surface.
This huge and sudden upheaval immediately drew the attention of both warring factions.
Both the continuous orbital bombardment and the heavy surface shelling instantly paused.
As vast amounts of energy surged into the giant cannon's base, the immense energy signature alerted even the most sluggish observer to the anomaly.
The Adeptus Mechanicus, although extremely tense about this energy reading, diverted massive amounts of power to their Void Shield systems but took no further action. While they could not identify the entity, the energy signature was clearly not aimed at them.
The grotesque fleet in space, however, instantly diverted all its available fire to saturate the newly emerged threat.
In anticipation of such a strike, such a conspicuous turret structure naturally possessed commensurate defensive capability. The surging energy field was absorbed by a protective shield known as an 'Argyle' energy barrier, a tougher and denser shield than a standard Void Shield, which manifested around the base of the massive gun.
"WUMPH!"
Just as the incoming ordnance from space was about to impact the shield, a massive, pale-white beam of light erupted from the mouth of the gargantuan cannon.
The colossal beam obliterated all ordnance in its trajectory, pierced the atmosphere, and successfully struck the vessel that had been relentlessly raining fire.
The purple Void Shield on the ship's surface flickered violently, then burst like a punctured bladder.
The hull, struck by the residual energy, instantly disintegrated into a cloud of debris.
The immense light produced by the subsequent internal detonation illuminated a small section of the surface, blazing like a temporary sun.