'What is going on?' the Iron-Father added his own angry enquiry to the fray.

'Augurs report that Generarium Primus is under heretic control, my lords,' another machine-acolyte said, the anxiety clear in his voice. As long as it remains so we cannot fire the cannon.'

'Then our moment has passed. We are too late. The foe will be victorious here.'

'What?' Gdolkin roared turning on the arch-magos, releasing his grip on Thule and casting him aside. 'You would admit defeat already? You who command one of the legendary ancients of the ordinatus legions?'

The Iron-Father was face-to-face with Schrodinger now: his voice rang from his helmet speakers, echoing through the vaulted space of the bridge deck.

'You should be ashamed of yourself, an arch-magos of the vaunted Adeptus Mechanicus giving in to the Emperor's enemies so readily! Such weakness! Your behaviour makes my blood boil!'

The Iron-Father pulled back from the quaking Schrodinger. Thule watched from the edge of the platform, something mantis-like and predatory about his posture and his gaze. The two other Iron Hands, and the accompanying weapons-servitor automata, stood motionless as statues behind him.

'This is not over yet. If it is the will of the Omnissiah that Ordinatus Gehenna completes its preordained task then, by the Light-Bringer, so it shall!'

Thule made a hissing noise, but said nothing.

'Gdolkin to all units,' the Iron-Father intoned into his helmet mic, turning and descending the stairs from the elevated command platform. 'Converge on generarium level alpha. There is a canker aboard this ancient god-engine that has to be purged.'

Gdolkin cut down the traitor Guardsman with one sweep of his axe, bisecting the hollow-eyed madman's body from neck to groin. The insurrectionist Chaos-lover collapsed in a slurry of intestines and other internal organs. And then the Iron Hands and their tech-guard allies were through into the vaulted chamber of Generarium Primus.

After battling the Death Guard on the acid-scorched battlefield to get on board the ordinatus, the Iron Hand squads had reconvened again. There had been losses amongst Melchor's squad as well. Initiate Gob-ard had been cut down by a Death Guard Terminator and Brother Betorin's bionic right leg had been severely damaged by a mine. Librarian Melchor appeared to have come out the battle unscathed so far, unlike Gdolkin, although his cyber-cherub was showing signs of light shrapnel wounding.

Gdolkin's encounter with the defiler had left him and his armour bruised and battered. He had noticed a two point six-zero-one per cent drop in his power armour's servos' operational effectiveness.