That.’ said Ludd, with undisguised smugness, 'is Ordinatus Gehenna!

'It looks like one of the land-leviathans of our noble clan companies.’ said another of the Iron Hands, Brother Sefalus, his augmented vox-box tones sounding like the grating of a rusted chainsword.

'What is it doing in that region?'

Magos Ludd sighed loudly, clearly irritated by the Iron-Father's persistent questioning. He still answered him, however, if only in the hope that the endless questions would be exhausted and he could be rid of the Space Marine.

'Ordinatus Gehenna was dispatched with the purpose of eliminating the plague horde's focus in the Argentum Mountains.’

'Why? What is there?'

'Nothing more than ore mines.’

'Or at least that was what was thought to be there, before the uprising occurred.’

'What are you saying?' Ludd asked defensively.

'Did you not consider the possibility that it was something unearthed during the mining process thai attracted the attentions of the enemy, at the expense of seemingly more valuable strategic sites across this continent?'

'Such a hypothesis had been proposed.’ Ludd admittedly, almost reluctantly.

It was the nature of the Adeptus Mechanicus to be secretive, protecting their mystical knowledge, as they had done for so many millennia, and Magos Ludd found it hard to overcome the ingrained attitude of his long lifetime.

'Hence the presence of Ordinatus Gehenna and its accompanying tech-guard army, no doubt.’

'Indeed. We had no idea what we were dealing with, but we couldn't take any more risks. The ancient ordinatus engines are priceless relics dating back as far as the Dark Age of Technology.’ Ludd said reverentially, his tone and attitude changing from aggravated annoyance to one of holy veneration, crossing himself with the holy sign of the Machina Opus. They deserve the utmost protection, so that they might continue to aid us in our constant battles to hold back the enveloping darkness.

'Their machine spirits are among some of the oldest and mightiest in the entire Imperium, as old as the war-machines of the Legiones Titanicus. The only things older are the battleships of the Imperial Navy.’

A wave of green static snow washed through the image of the leviathan landship. The image flickered again and then cut out. The holosphere was now projecting nothing but a snowstorm of interference, accompanied by a soft resonating hum.

'We've lost the surveyor-satellite.’ an adept informed Ludd.

Concern contorted the tech-priest's features.

‘Then this is to be Ordinatus Gehenna's greatest hour and probably its last stand too.’ Ludd said, his voice heavy with woe, as if the weight of a Titan god-engine rested on his shoulders.

'Do you have no other reinforcements that can be deployed to safeguard the precious ordinatus leviathan?' Gdolkin asked, as if he was addressing a student in a schola progenium.

'There is nothing within fifty kilometres of the Gehenna's position that could help. The Legio Mortis Metallum is engaged fighting the enemy at the gates of manufactory hive Godspire Secundus, holding back the tanks of the rebel armoured units, and the Tradaran Rifles are involved in a firefight with the militia guerrilla armies of Spire Prime. There is nothing else.'