Datafax Reading: Battle Robots of the Celestial Questors

Discovery and Quarantine

In M39.742, elements of the 3rd Company conducting void-reconnaissance operations in the Ghallus Drift uncovered a derelict transport hulk of Imperial origin. Within its radiation-scoured cargo holds lay a cache of Mechanicum battle-automata - seventeen Castellan-pattern robots and nine Cataphract-pattern, their systems dormant but structurally intact. Machine spirits slumbered within cortex housings adorned with the cog-and-skull of Mars, untouched for millennia.

Accompanying the automata were sealed cryo-caskets and phylacteries containing biological components. Gene-culturing matrices, neural tissue samples, and several intact "wetware" cortexes were held in stasis suspension. The hulk's emergency power had maintained these precious materials for thousands of years, a small miracle across the ages. Master of the Forge Caelinus ordered their immediate retrieval and conveyance to Deepfathom Cairn, but what followed was not celebration, but instead crisis.

The Techmarines of the Celestial Questors found themselves divided. To activate these ancient war-machines without proper sanction from Mars was to risk accusations of tech-heresy. Yet to surrender such potent relics to the Mechanicus might see them lost to the Chapter forever, consigned to some distant Forge World's warehouses or dissected for study.

More practically, the automata presented a technical challenge of daunting complexity. While the stasis preserved biological materials offered hope of restoration, the Techmarines lacked the complete knowledge to properly culture and integrate wetware cortexes into the ancient chassis. Fragmentary data-wafers recovered from the hulk provided hints of the binding rites and growth protocols required, but critical sections remained corrupted or missing entirely.

Debate raged within the Reclusiam Forge for twenty standard years. Techmarine Varicos argued for experimental activation, citing the Chapter's need for war materiel and the automata's clear Imperial provenance. His opponent, Senior Techmarine Ajax, warned that unsanctioned use would sever the Chapter's bond with Mars and invite Inquisitorial scrutiny. Furthermore, improper cortex integration risked creating abominations driven mad by flawed binding, a fate the Omnissiah would not forgive. The Techmarines made what limited progress they could under the restrictions, slowly deciphering the ancient protocols and successfully culturing small samples of neural tissue. But the final integration remained beyond their grasp. Without Mars' blessing and knowledge, the work stalled.

The late Chapter Master Tasciovanus wisely chose restraint. The automata were sealed within the Cairnvault (a specially constructed chamber deep within Deepfathom Cairn for chapter relics) and placed under stasis-locks. There they remained for over a hundred years as silent iron examples of theological and technical impasse.

The Forge War and Unbinding

Resolution came not through debate, but through chance.

When Forge World Estaban VII came under siege by corrupted Dark Mechanicus forces from Hell Forge Sarum, the Celestial Questors answered the call alongside numerous Astartes chapters and Mechanicus battle-cohorts. The Chapter had long maintained cordial relations with Estaban VII - the Forge World had previously provided maintenance support for the Chapter's relic Baneblade, and both held mutual respect forged through shared campaigns. The fighting was catastrophic. Estaban VII's forges burned, and the defenders were pushed to the breaking point.

Master of the Forge Caelinus, bearing the full authority of his office, made his decision. He transmitted an urgent petition to Estaban VII's ruling Fabricator-General, formally requesting sanction to deploy the Chapter's cache of ancient automata in the Forge World's defense - and critically requesting immediate technical assistance in completing their restoration.

The response came within the hour:

"Deploy all available assets. Dispatch your senior Techmarines to Forge Sigma-7. We shall complete what you have begun. The Omnissiah shall judge their worth in battle. Mars remembers its children."

What followed was a fevered collaboration. Estaban VII's Genetors and Artisanal-Magi worked alongside the Celestial Questors' Techmarines in round the clock sanctification. The preserved genetic materials were cultured in sacred vats and wetware cortexes were grown, conditioned, and consecrated. The missing fragments of the binding-rites were supplied from Estaban VII's own ancient archives' lore dating back to the Great Crusade.

Within two weeks, the Cairnvault was unsealed. Awakening-rites were performed. Freshly-integrated cortexes pulsed with newfound awareness. Machine-spirits stirred and accepted their organic components.

Twenty-six automata marched to war.

Vindicated by Fire

The Castellans and Cataphracts proved devastating. Their small-arms resistant ceramite exterior withstood an endless hail of gunfire while their Heavy Bolters, Power Fists, Boltguns and Flamers carved through enemy hordes with efficiency. Their newly-bound machine-spirits, guided by freshly-integrated wetware, responded to the Techmarines' command-cant with eager precision.
In a daring assault led by the Celestial Questors to reclaim the Infernus Basilica, three Cataphracts held a breach against Mutant-Thralls for six hours, their automated targeting never faltering. When the siege finally broke, the Basilica's surviving Magi personally blessed each remaining automaton.

The Fabricator-General issued formal dispensation:

"The Celestial Questors are recognised as sanctioned custodians of these relics. May they serve the Omnissiah in the future as they once did in ages past."

As a gesture of gratitude, Estaban VII provided the Chapter with complete cultural protocols, gene-culturing equipment, and a permanent though restricted data-link to their biologis archives - ensuring the Celestial Questors could maintain and, if necessary, restore their automata in perpetuity.

Current Status

The Chapter now maintains one hundred operational automata, their ranks replenished through careful restoration of battle-damaged units using the knowledge gifted by Estaban VII. They are deployed sparingly, reserved for the most critical engagements where their firepower and durability can turn the tide. The Cairnvault remains the sanctuary of the original surviving blessed automata while the rest are maintained in the forges. Only the Master of the Forge and his most senior Techmarines may enter to perform maintenance-rites, culture replacement wetware, and commune with the ancient machine-spirits within. There are rumours that a Battle-Robot design indigenous to Verlamion-1 is in development.

Now known as the "Hundred and Twenty Seven Years of Iron Silence", it is remembered as a lesson: that patience, even in the face of desire for power, honors both the Emperor and the Omnissiah and that even the mightiest relics require both well-placed faith and knowledge to truly awaken.