Inquisitor Saevitiae reclined in his chair, checking the video feeds being routed to his command center deep within the STC facility. The temptation to go up and see the battle with his own eyes was considerable, but he could feel the endgame was close. He wouldn't get careless now, with his goal in sight. An unlucky stray shot…or even one aimed at his back from his own "allies", and all his planning could be for naught. No, he'd be content to stay below until he played his final hand.
Keying up the vox-caster, he spoke, "Legatus Trajanus, report. What is the situation?"
The commander of the Third Legion replied, "Yes, Inquisitor. Things are looking grim. We're holding Point Phobos, though we've lost the first ring of bunkers on the north and east sides. Lazarus is holding the fringes of Parvati thus far. The Corridor is in danger of being overrun, there aren't enough defenders on the line there. The Black Templars appear to have suffered heavy losses, including their commander, Androcles."
"Really?"
The video feed switched to another portion of the battlefield. A Tyranid Hierophant bio-titan ambled toward the walls, surrounded by hundreds of lesser Tyranids. Suddenly the titan exploded from within, spraying ichors and chunks of carapace across the battlefield. "I'm told Androcles climbed inside the bio-titan and detonated his armor's power core."
"A brave and noble sacrifice, I'm sure," The Inquisitor replied with a grin. One less bio-titan and one less officer among these traitorous Black Templars. He switched the view again to look at the battle along the Corridor, wondering whether or not to send troops to reinforce them. On the one hand, he wanted as many Templars, Ultramarines, and Lazarus' men killed as possible, to reduce them as a threat. However, he also couldn't afford to have their positions overwhelmed, and have Tyranids in the city or Point Phobos.
Tapping his thumb against his lower lip, he spoke, "Trajanus, you will relocate to your command aircraft and take to the air. I want all monitoring equipment ready. I think its time for the shakedown of the Titan."
At the northeast corner of Point Phobos, the fighting was intense, as Black Templars and the Guardsmen of the Third Byzantine Legion gallantly defended the walls at the juncture of the corridor wall and the Phobos perimeter. The Tyranid corpses were piling up before the walls into a ramp up which the bugs were able to crawl, and very soon they would be swarming over the walls.
Then there was an earthshaking tremor that reverberated along the walls. Deep beneath the ground, there was a tremendous series of clicks and thuds of machinery, like gigantic bolts sliding free of a massive door. Suddenly, the earth began to heave, asphalt and concrete streets ripping apart as a huge sinkhole appeared behind the walls. Within seconds, an area the size of a city block caved in, dirt, concrete, buildings, vehicles, and men sliding into a rapidly opening chasm. A great cloud of dust rose high into the air and obscuring vision for nearly a kilometer in every direction.
Buried for centuries, the great doors of the STC facility were at last opening again.
The ground began to shake again, this time a slow, rhythmic pulse, each thundering sound raising the dust and dirt from the ground. Marines and Guardsmen on the ground stared in shock as a form began to resolve itself from the cloud of dust. Taller and taller the vague shape became as its massive bulk stepped up the ramp that had been revealed buried under Point Phobos. From the dune colored dust emerged a gleaming white giant trimmed in gold and purple, the colors of the Inquisition…the colors of Gaius Romulus Saevitiae.
It was vaguely man-shaped, but stooped forward with a massive frame like a hunchback. Forty-five meters in the sky it towered over the battlefield, like a walking fifteen story building. Thick legs propelled it slowly forward with a ponderous, inexorable gait. Two arms extended out from its torso, laden with massive weaponry that could level cities. On its back was a Cathedral of glorious white, tall spires jutting into the sky and windows of stained glass glittering in the sun.
