Inquisitor Gaius Romulus Saevitiae strode through the dusty halls of the STC facility, his footsteps echoing loudly through the empty corridors. His entourage followed a few paces behind. At the end of the corridor were two reinforced metal doors, sealed by his order to seclude the techpriests within. He glanced behind him, "Stay here." He knew the two Sisters Hospitaller and the Sister Dialogus that had been assigned to him by the Order of Saint Celestine were reporting all of his movements to their Canoness...or their new Canoness, as he had heard that uptight bitch Magdalena had been slaughtered. They were at that very moment, back at their camp, for some sort of Order Convocation. He had allowed them to go, as he knew he would need to keep their participation in this to a minimum to preserve the secrecy of his actions.
However, he would prefer even the others of his retinue remain ignorant of the details of his plans. And so they would await him here.
He tapped in the code and the great doors slowly slid open with a slight creak. He stepped in and pressed the button to close the door behind him. There was a soft hissing sound as the hermetic seal closed, ensuring the airtight door was shut. He continued through the antechamber and down the long flight of stairs to the hangar.
As he walked in, he felt the breath catch in his throat. Hulking in the gloom of the dimly lit vault, was the Titan. It stood ten stories tall, like a brutish colossus, wide and thick with armor. The arms were laden with powerful weapons, many of which could no longer be duplicated. The technology to craft such wondrous items had been lost. Two techpriests scurried toward him, covered in grease-stained robes of red. As they approached, Gaius could see that both were bearing considerable cybernetic augmentation. Techpriests often skirted the edge of sanity and heresy with their cybernetic replacements and their veneration of the Machine God, so the Inquisition kept close tabs on them at all times. Of course, as they were needed to maintain the technology of the Imperium, the Inquisition needed to remain diplomatic.
The first of the techpriests spoke, his voice electronically modulated, as his entire face and throat had been replaced with machinery. Gauis recognized him by reputation as Brother Ferris, who had been horribly disfigured in some sort of industrial accident a century ago. Now he was more machine than man, including his gleaming chrome face, his mouth just a speaker. "Inquisitor Saevitiae, we have been awaiting you."
"Brother Ferris," Gaius greeted, concealing his disgust. Several other Inquisitors had motioned for Ferris' excommunication for heresy, but Gaius knew that men such as he were needed. Like the psykers who operate under the Emperor's auspices, the expertise of these freaks was necessary for the Imperium to function. Gaius knew a tool when he saw one, and valued them. "Tell me what you have discovered."
There was a slight pause as Brother Ferris considered. The Techpriests of Mars were a powerful faction in the Imperial government, and operated under their own charter. The miracles of technology such as those found in the STC facility were their jurisdiction. However, the power of the Inquisition was paramount, and no one was immune to their authority…so long as there was a question of heresy, mutation, or diabolism involved. Ferris had heard of Saevitiae's mission, and the justification for it, so he had little choice but to cooperate lest he find himself excommunicated. "The Titan is very old, at least two millennia. However, the power core is sound, and we have brought it up to twenty-five percent operating capacity."
"Weapon systems?"
"We lack sufficient data at this point to conjecture on their status," Ferris answered. "Before we can test them, we must ensure the power couplings and routing are still fully functioning."
"Structure? Defensive systems? Motive systems? Can it move?"
"Structure is sound, though the state of the ambulatory hydraulics and linear actuators is at this point unknown. We will surely need to replace seals and some of the hydraulic life-fluid arteries before it will move. The tempered ceralloy armor has some pitting, but there should be no degradation of its protective properties."
