Warhammer 40000 is the property of Games Workshop

Goblin Slayer is the work of Kumo Kagyu

Prologue

In the stars of the endless night, an unending war wages upon the high heavens. Titanic monsters of horrors unknown clash with lightning and deaths against towering beings of metal and faith. Beneath them a tide of flesh, metal, and fire ebb and flow among an endless battlefield. In this eternal conflict of gods, there is a being who fights under the banner of the Heavenly Host...

To the gods of the heavens, he is just a lowly servant among countless souls. A bare whisper along an endless sea of litanies and chants. A tiny cog who turns the small part of the great engines of war.

To the demons of madness, he is just one skull to pile upon the bloody throne. A footnote in the grand galactic scheme. A brief and barren delight compared to the ecstasies of excess. A poor soul drowned the buzzing congregation of decay. Never worthy of notice.

Never unworthy of attention to anyone.

But, what is a servant of the heavens to mere mortals like us?

"Enginseer Maccabeus." The lowly engineer mystic of Mars broke from his focus of fine-tuning the calibrations on a plasma pistol when he registered the high pitched voice of a guardswoman calling for his name.

Normally, Maccabeus would have just hissed at the guardswoman for barging in, as he hates it when he's distracted from his ministrations. But he recognized the woman to be Lieutenant Danah Olasson; the liaison for Cadian 788th regiment of whom he's serving under. Using his upper gyro-motors, Maccabeus turned his whole torso in a whirring motion to see a short but naturally beautiful imperial officer. He thought that she might be intimidated by the way he moved, but she just held an impatient expression on her face.

"Enginseer Maccabeus, have you finalized the rites of activation for our tank arsenal?" Said Danah in a chastising manner. The engineer replied in his synthetic voice in order to express his confusion " What's this about? I thought that Magos Velatus was responsible for final approval on all our weaponry. And I already told him I was finished two hours ago."

' and triple checked to be absolutely sure.' Maccabeus retorted in his mind. Some would say that he was being paranoid but Maccabeus like to be sure of errors lest the machine spirit be offended and leave you in the middle of battle.

"Yes, but then he found about your modification on our chimera tanks. I know that you techpriests are fanatics but he kept rambling about rerouting the power lines to the Multi-Las turret. Something the regiment needs to know Enginseer?"

ah. that.

"Sergeant Danah, I know that the Magos is adamant about protocol, but I've found out that these Chimera variants give out tremendous output and his calibrations put a strain on the main battery supply. I only transferred the excess power to the turrets in order vent it somewhere. Besides it give the chimera an extra kick."

With a raised eyebrow Danah replied, "He said that you would say that. And he also said that the output will melt the lenses if it goes any higher."

He's only saying that because he doesn't want to admit that he's wrong. I may be just an Enginseer, but even my brothers have all come to agree that not all chimera's act exactly the same. Even the Sergeant knows the Magos is pulling jargon out of his metal arse. I swear rust must have seeped into his brain chip to make him that senile.

Maccabeus just gave a light shrug. "Either way it's hardly a breach of protocol, let alone tech-heresy."

"Maybe, but that Magos hasn't heard of your reply so he had to send me to tell you to do it again. Properly this time."

Maccabeus heaved a tired sigh while massaging his plated forehead, not that he had lungs or a skull anymore. That was one of the first things he replaced in order to filter out the toxic fumes of his master's Manufactorum. But he always appreciated the natural functions of the human form, and always sought to imitate it some measure.

After all, the majesty of the Omnissiah manifests not just in machinery but in all natural things in the universe.

Plus Maccabeus realized that people were much more open to him when he was more human-like.

Danah tried to placate the Enginseer with a positive tune. "In all honesty, at least the chimera drivers agree with your assessment. But Magos Velatus won't budge unless you make the changes."

He held out his hand slowly and beckoned Danah. "Alright give me the data slate for his calibrations. I'll be done within the hour."

Danah gave a slight smile and looked at Maccabeus. " You know I'm kinda surprised that the Magos tolerates you so much. Not that I mind you as you are, but that kind of stunt usually gets you a one-way ticket to the penal legions...Or, servitors in your case."

"Then I should praise the Omnissiah for our predicament when we are so low on engineers that even the Magos is doing field repairs." Maccabeus looked up in mock supplication. The gesture made Danah crack out a snort. "Ha! Be careful Maccabeus. Don't let the Magos hear you saying such a thing."

" Well, unfortunately, he's not here, and you're not one to tell him anything." Said Maccabeus while tilting his head. Danah couldn't help but smirk at his accusation.

"True, I like you enough since you're the only Enginseer that doesn't go ballistic at our modifications."

"What can I say? I'm a fan of creativity." And because of that sometimes I wonder if I do belong in the priesthood.

Maccabeus suddenly went silent in his train of thought, and Danah seeing it as dejection rested her arms around Maccabeus's neck and gave him a reassuring squeeze. Maccabeus barely felt her soft arms but appreciated the gesture nonetheless.

"Hey don't be so down, sooner or later the Emperor is going to bless you and he'll see that you're gonna be a full-on techpriest."

"Assuming that we survive this campaign," commented Maccabeus sarcastically.

Danah rolled her eyes. "Don't be so melodramatic Maccabeus. I get that enough from the Kreigers. In fact, I think you'd fit right with them having your shared hatred of the Orks."

Maccabeus retorted in mock disgust. "Nah, I don't like the Kriegers either. They seem to be able to communicate with each other without doing anything. It's like they're almost psykers and it creeps me out."

Danah could only shrug in agreement."Anyways I gotta get the rest of the regiment ready, or General Alexander is REALLY going to pet pissed and send us all to the penal legions."

"Alright, stay safe Danah."Said Maccabeus.

The sergeant gave a playful salute as she left the room. Maccabeus picked up his plasma pistol to continue his tweaks and was once more left to his thoughts. This was about the 5th time Velatus meddled in the Enginseer's affairs. Thankfully nothing terrible has befallen the regiment, but try as he might he couldn't shake off the ominous feeling on Magos Velatus's new calculations. He quashed such rebellious thoughts with as much hopeful optimism a tech priest could.

I just hope that things don't go wrong on my end.

The bellowing war cries of Orks filled the air as they charged at the lone Enginseer of Mars with crude chain axes and shootas. Though surrounded on all sides the Enginseer was undeterred as he deftly swatted a clumsy ax strike from the front while shooting down a few Ork Boyz with a mounted lasgun on one of his mechadendrites. In a flash, a handful of Orks went down riddled in smoldering holes and blackened faces. With his flanks secure, Maccabeus brought down his power ax upon the head of the last disarmed Ork with all his might. The Ork screeched in terror as his torso was cleaved down past the pelvic line. The Grotz fled in terror the moment the Orks fell, but Maccabeus used every opportunity to gun them down.

" Run you vermin! Run and die in utter shame!" Roared Maccabeus as he shot through the last Grot with his plasma pistol.

Damnable little shits always gets the better of you when you're not looking at them.

With another battle won Maccabeus continued to trek the ruins of Hivespire Dominas alone. It's already been two day days since the ambush, and Maccabeus was still unable to find the rest of the regiment. He would have sent out servo skulls, and if would be a matter of hours in locating his allies if not for Flash Gitz shooting them down the day before. Worse yet, the noise of battle reverberated endlessly throughout the towering walls of the hive so it was impossible to locate where the fight was exactly happening. So Maccabeus had no choice but to look for loyalist by walking aimlessly through the labyrinth of tunnels and vaulted streets. So far he ran into a couple of Ork Warbands who were busy looting the city, but luckily all them were poorly equipped so he was barely able to dispatch them without relatively damaging himself.

While trudging through the massive labyrinths of pipes and wreckage Maccabeus was constantly thinking on what went wrong. Every time his conclusions always lead to the moment when the Magos ordered him to change specifications on the Chimeras.

He hoped within the deepest part of his circuitry that he was wrong to question the Magos.

But as this place is a cruel galaxy, hope can only lead to disappointment.

As it turned out, the battery tanks after being overburdened by heavy fighting overloaded in spectacular fashion when the Cadian regiment was trying to push into Hivespire Dominas. Some exploding in a ball of fire while other simple went dead in the middle of the column line. And when the Chimera's became sitting ducks, it only took moments for the Orks to smash apart the column with anti-tank weapons. Luckily, Maccabeus's was on board a Hellhound at the end of the column when the driver suddenly called him for minor repairs. As soon as the fighting started, Maccabeus rushed to help the 788th chimera column but arrived too late to the scene. He found only dead bodies and wrecks until he found Sergeant Danah among a pile of dead Orks with half of her torso missing.

Despite gruesome death, her face was locked in a blank expression as if she was just contemplating something.

Compelled by his human nature and with everyone else dead, despite the danger, Maccabeus took the time to give Sargent Danah a proper farewell. He gently closed her eyes and laid her with her fellow guardsmen. Maccabeus then gave few choice words, a small prayer in order help guide her soul to the emperor's side. With that business done, he also took a sample of each of their blood for himself as he always wanted something to remember them by and then finally gave them a funeral pyre worthy of imperial guardsmen. Besides the interactions, he was always fascinated by the gene makeup of mankind, on what made them individuals. Perhaps if he was more obedient, he would have been working under a Genator by now. But all that mattered now was linking up with the rest of the Imperial Guard while dodging enemy patrols.

If only Magos Velatus hadn't changed the calibrations...

In one small part of his flesh, Maccabeus felt a sense of vindication at the petty mistake of his Magos had cost. But he was all the more saddened by the death of Sergeant Danah. Surviving 3 campaigns against Chaos Warbands, Dark Eldar, Necrons and the worst of everything each kind had to offer. But in the end, she was killed by a simple mechanical failure. It's hard to be killed by xenos and heretics, it's utterly despairing to be abandoned by the machine spirit in your hour of need. Or was it?

Maccabeus put aside his thoughts of accusations when he heard the rumbling of treads approaching his location. Quickly Maccabeus bolted for cover and hid behind the remains of a wall still intact. As the noise got louder Maccabeus peered over with an optic attachment on his finger in order to peek over without giving away his position. As the machines reared around the corner. Maccabeus began to see that the column consisted of Krios war tanks flanked by squads of Skitarii rangers. Relieved at the sight of Mechanicus forces, Maccabeus slowly same out of is cover and walk towards them. As soon as the Skitarii registered Maccabeus's prescience they trained his weapons on him with lightning speed.

Promptly the Skitarii ranger questioned the Enginseer in emotionless binary. "Identify yourself."

"Enginseer Maccabeus of Forgeworld Aggripina currently in service to the Cadian 788th regiment." Replied Maccabeus in binary. "Who are you?"

" Legionnaire D-0683 of Hyraxis Forge under Magos Fevana. Remove your weapons or we will shoot."

Maccabeus was briefly confused by the order, but nonetheless quickly let down his power axe and plasma pistol while detaching his mechadendrites from his spinal ligaments. The Skitarii moved closer to Maccabeus while looking around for signs of ambushing enemies. After double checking, the Skitarii eased their weapons away from the Enginseer but remained vigilant. All this while the leader Skitarii seemed to be in discussion on his vox channel before he turned to Maccabeus.

"Magos Fevana wishes to speak with you. Relinquishing direct control." The Legionnaire announced in from of Maccabeus when suddenly he started shaking uncontrollably. In a moment of spastic seizure, the Skitarii then reoriented himself in a very different manner; not like the stiff rigid stance but in an effeminate regal stance. Then a female voice began crackling out of the legionnaire's vox communicator.

"Enginseer Maccabeus, this is Magos Fevana of Hyraxis Forge speaking. I have need of your services." declared the possessed Skitarii.

Maccabeus immediately bent down to one knee in respect. "I am honored and relieved Lady Magos, but what does a high-priestess as yourself ask of a lowly Enginseer such as I?"

"If you haven't guessed by now, the Orks have somehow managed to push against our assault. Worse yet is that they manage to surround the accompanying Legio Mechanicus. I'm also sorry to let you know that your overseer Magos Velatus has been killed in the skirmish." Even with a mechanical voice, Maccabeus noticed the lack of sorrow in Fevana's tone.

"The forge is ever dimmer with his loss."And not exploding anytime soon. Maccabeus quipped.

"Yes, and his bumbling actions have cost us an entire regimental worth of arsenals. I would hate to leave such resources to the mercy of the Orks Which lead me to ask of you of something." Magos Fevana leaned down while Maccabeus dared to look up to his superior.

"I will spare you the details but when Magos Velatus left for battle, he carried with him a relic device of utmost importance to the Mechanicum. I believe that he wished to test this device against Orks, but it seems apparent that he has failed miserably. I was told by an informant that one of the Enginseer under his command knows the access code to his database. Am I Correct?"

"As a matter of fact, Yes. Magos Velatus gave me the access codes in a data pad right before the battle commenced. He attached along with the calibration specifications for our Chimeras. He didn't tell what the access codes were for or what he was keeping safe, but he expressed that I was to keep it until he returned. I have kept the codes with me on my person since."And being vague never bodes well for the likes of anyone. But Maccabeus feared that Fevana might have brainwave analyzers on her Skitarii so he struggled to keep his thoughts in check.

But whether not she had analyzers Magos Fevana was too busy being gleeful at the report. "Excellent! This Skitarii legion was in the process of retrieving Velatus's remains, but I was worried I might never have opened the secrets of Velatus's device. It is quite fortunate that we were able to come by you Enginseer. In light of your actions. let me be the first to congratulate you on your ascension into the priesthood, Tech Priest Maccabeus"

Maccabeus froze completely at her declaration "Wait, what? Me a Techpriest? Are you serious Lady Magos?"

Magos Fevana gave an amused chuckle, "I am dead serious. I've seen your record in service to your Cadian Regiment. At least until Magos Velatus came into the picture, you seem to have made many improvements upon the holy arsenal of our common brethren. I'm quite impressed with your work."

"All with the blessing of the Machine Spirit. I would have not done otherwise." Maccabeus humbly replied. Is she trying to bait me into Techno-Heresy?

Fevana giggled as the continued, "And I would be assured that the Omnissiah allowed such ..'changes'. Frankly, I need someone who has an aptitude for such creativity. Of course, the tenets of our faith must be maintained at times. Remember that I will not tolerate techno-heresy."

Fevana placed her hand on Maccabeus's chin and move his face to directly look into her proxy visors.

"And most of all, if you ever, EVER, tell anyone about this device, I will personally dismantle you piece by piece with your pain receptors set at maximum."

And there is the threat. Either this device is Techno Heresy worthy, or she just wants a scapegoat around should the inquisition come knocking.

Oh well, so long as I keep my mouth shut she's not gonna bother with the likes of me.

"I understand, Magos Fevana."

"That should be sufficient. For now, accompany me to Magos Velatus and I will formally induct you to the priesthood."

Well, what do you know Danah...Maybe there is something worth hoping for in the end after all.

It all seemed that things were going to work out so smoothly. Nothing particular happened when they reached the battle site, other than Magos Fevana initiating Maccabeus into the priesthood inside the deck of a Land Raider. Not a pompous ceremony as one would have within a Manufactorum Temple as circumstance would have it, but nonetheless a holy ritual.

In fact, Maccabeus kinda like the humble initiation, moreover his new overseer. When Maccabeus explained to Fevana about his incident with Velatus, instead of berating him for his techno heresy she started to ask him question after question on particular modifications he made over the years.

Maccabeus got the impression that Fevana was someone who appreciated innovation rather than being adamant to tradition. Soon enough, they were exchanging ideas on how to improve arc technology through simplification. It had been a short two-hour discussion in binary, but when you have an augmentation that helps you think at the speed of supercomputers it would take decades to fill fully discuss the information in Imperial Gothic.

And then arriving at the last remains of Magos Velatus, everything seemed tranquil as Magos Fevana feverishly searched for whatever she was looking for. Then she found it. Maccabeus took a glance while Florah was strangely enamored with her prize. It was a lamp shaped device with knobs and tubes snaking along the ridges, just like a power cell you put into generators. Fevana entered the access codes given to her by Maccabeus and the shells came apart to show the core inside. Clasped within its center was perfectly oval jewel emitting a strange rainbow-colored light. Maccabeus had never seen anything so beautiful before.

He was hopeful when he heard Fevana muttering, "this will change the very foundation of Mechanicus and of the Imperium."

He had been so hopeful, he actually believed Fevana. He actually thought it was worth living in this misery-ridden galaxy.

As soon as Fevana held the device, a howling reverberate war cry shook all around them. It was a strange cry, as it wasn't the usual Waagghh! bellowed by the Orks but a buzzing chant of Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie and Mine Mine Mine. Then moments later, a trickle of Orkish mobs flowed into the open field. Then that trick soon turned into a rampaging Horde as all manner of Ork Klans rushing forth from the ruins. The Mechanicus made their getaway as fast as they could, but somehow more and more Orks were being attracted to their location.

In just four hours after being initiated into the rank of Tech-priest, Maccabeus and his new Overseer were making a desperate stand as the Ork hordes came piling towards the Mechanicus force.

The vehicles spewed endless fire on all sides while pushing their engines to the limit of their speed. The Orks did not run even when the treads of the tanks crushed them into a fine pulp. The pile became so insurmountable that the tread became clogged with bits of flesh, bones, and blood. Soon Fevana made the decision to abandon the vehicles and the troops made their dash towards the imperial line.

The Skitarii Vanguards and Rangers went into overclocking mode as they rained down deadly arc and plasma fire, but every kill they made was being replaced with ten more Orks. Worse yet, the Orks have seemed to enter a state of frenzy akin to Khornate berzerkers, but instead of Blood for the Blood God, the Orks raving about their stolen possession. The Skitarii valiantly fell one by one until only Maccabeus, Fevana's avatar and a few honor guards remained on top of a broken ridge.

I take it back. This is possibly the worst situation that I ended up in.

"Magos, we have lost most of our forces. It'll only be a moment before we are overrun" Yelled Maccabeus in binary as he hosed down a bunch of Ork boyz with his overheating plasma pistol.

"Hold your position Maccabeus, I'm going send reinforcements to your location!" Voxxed Fevana as her avatar laid a continuous barrage of arc lightning despite the extensive damage done to his chassis. Maccabeus would have been uneasy if was her in person, Fevana had given control back to the Skitarii the moment the fighting began. Instead, Fevana was screaming through the vox channels, threatening Segmentum Command while maintaining contact on Maccabeus end.

"Maccabeus!whatever you do do, keep the relic device safe from those barbaric hands! I don't care if you have to have to sacrifice your own life to save it!"

Well, so much for our common-bond.

"No General Alexander! I don't care either if your forces are over rr-un! Send eve-ry available force you- have! That relic is para-mo-u-n-t-"

Fevana's frantic chatter was drowned as another cry of Orks signaled the horde to charge up the ridge with reckless abandon. Maccabeus shot the last rounds of his plasma pistol before the weapon became critically unstable. He threw the pistol into a concentrated mob and the Orks died in a beautiful blue flame.

"HAAHAHAH, GIMMIE MAH SHINIY BLING YA KLUNKY HUMIE GIT!"

Maccabeus snapped his head around to see an Ork Mek on the far side from him wielding what looks to be heavily customized Shock-Attak Gun. As the globed propeller began to swirl, the huge hose on the other end began to suck up everything under its voracious mouth. Snotlings, Gotz and even the occasional Ork boy were sucked up in a comical fashion when the whirring propellers began to rakes arcs of lighting. Before Maccabeus could react with his mounted las gun, the Ork Mek pressed the trigger and a ball of lighting the size of a Nob launched its way towards the beleaguered defenders.

"NO!" Screamed Fevana's avatar as she tried to shield between the attack and Maccabeus. But at that moment, the relic seemed to react against the lighting ball sucking up all the light them and forming a strange aurora shell. Then, just as Maccabeus thought that something might be working he and the honor guard were encased in blinding light. The Lightning Orb exploded in a bigger radius than it should have, vaporizing the frenzied Orks instantly. As soon as the sunlight once more illumined Hive ruins, all was quiet once again.

The Orks soon fell into a stupor and the imperial guard emboldened by this chance waded through their hated enemy with a righteous vengeance. The hive city celebrated on this victory, calling it a miracle of the Emperor. Magos Fevana, on the other hand, was furious to no end. Using every available resource she scoured the city turning up every soil and tearing apart every Ork body she could find lest it ended with them in some form. Years passed, and her methods became so desperate that even the ruinous power began to notice her antics. A Chaos Warband soon invaded the planet in hope of finding the fabled relic that Magos Fevana obsessed herself over. Following the Warband, the Inquisition and a few Space Marine Chapters joined the fray, trying to uncover the reason behind the sudden attack. The battle raged for years, but all of them eventually forgot the real identity of the relic device, since Fevana was long dead by that point and she took that secret with her to the grave. The site of its last location was taken over by new rubble and layered by bodies of the faithful and traitor alike. Soon the story of the relic device passed into myth, forever taunting schemers and warlords on an endless goose chase.

They search endlessly, but nothing remained of relic device or of Maccabeus the Tech-Priest within this universe.

Author's Notes

Okay, that was a bit of a long intro to our friend. A Bit longerrrrrrrr than I would have liked to, but I like to establish my characters a bit before proceeding. I also realize he not like the usual domomarigato mr robato tech-priest, but I realize that tech priests do retain some sense of human emotion so it just varies on that degree. I also like Sandy Mitchell's (MIGHTY IS HE!) version on that techpriest women so I just tried to go down that line. hope that doesn't deter you from reading further. I also tried looking into Tech priest ranks and culture, not too sure if I got that right. So feel free to correct me.

Now onto the wonderful magical world of Goblins!

I Wonder what's going to happen next!?