Part 2

On the way down the corridor to the armament chambers Koali over heard the sergeants talking

“Seems a complete waste of time sending two squads to get the Governor” Jutan scowled

“Agreed, this could be left to Imperial Guard if you ask me” Emorej point out

“Brothers! We have been tasked with a mission. One that in the long term would see the Imperium grow stronger and more secure, is this not valuable?” the deep voice from Sylekta caused the two sergeants to stop in their tracks.

“Yes, I live to serve the Emperor and the Imperium. I live to see its enemies defeated to that it shall remain strong” Emorej put his fist against his chest making the sign of the Templar’s honor

“I too live to serve the Imperium and to see its enemies crushed” Jutan chimed in

“So what’s the problem then?” Sylekta asked them both, he looked into both their eyes and they both could not hold his gaze.

“There is no problem Chaplain” Emorej said looking at the chaplain’s boots

“Yes, no problem here either” Jutan said behind gritted teeth while looking at the wall.

Koali chuckled to himself, he had been to see the chaplain once before and he remembered the intense gaze the Chaplain had, it was as if the Chaplain could look right through him into his soul, it was a very intense moment. The thought of the two sergeants squirming under Sylekta’s gaze seemed funny for some reason.

Arriving at the Armament hall Koali plugged into the nearest data terminal and downloaded the mission details, he opened up the document then compared required hardware to that which was currently serviceable.

Inside the Cruiser’s database he could see that there were currently on board four serviceable Rhino’s and two serviceable Razorbacks. Whether or not the database was up to date was another matter entirely. Koali checked available space transports, there was a total of five Thunderhawk Transporters in the fleet, one was currently undergoing maintenance another two were out on deployment with the force, luckily the other two were available. Koali selected both and registered them against the mission log along with three Rhino’s, the acceptance nodes flashed on screen. He had at least forty five minutes before the Rhino’s would have to be loaded and there were plenty of repairs to complete on damaged equipment so he headed back to the Mechanicus forge.

Part 3

Koali was back in his element now, the workshop was well lit with high wattage bulbs set into the high ceiling, the north wall was covered in tools and pieces of metal all the tools had a red outline behind it making it easy to return tools to their proper places. The east wall had bins full of spare parts; the west wall had a long window which opened up to a long hallway with multiple targets at the far end. In the center of the room were four work benches arranged in to a square pattern, the walls were a bare metal. On Koali’s work bench were two faulty bolters, a power sword which was having power issues, a lascannon which had somehow fried its internal wiring, two bolt pistols with faulty safety catches and a missile launcher with a jammed rocket in the tube. In the damages cart there was plenty more however these items should take him the least amount of time to get repaired.

Koali stood in front of his bench looking at the weapons, the task at hand was never ending. He felt like he was always here and was always alone. The ship suddenly felt even more cold than usual. Still he was a Techmarine and a Space marine, the life we live is one that will end in service of the Emporer. He picked his head up, even though he might not get through all the repairs, his brothers depended on him so he would do all he could.
Koali uttered the prayer or repairs to the Ommisiah and picked up one of the damaged bolters, looking at its damage tag, this one was reported to jam frequently. As he was taught, the weapon should be checked in case there was a live round loaded so he pulled the bolt parts to the rear and inspected the chamber, there were no rounds in the chamber or in the magazine. He removed the magazine and returned the bolt parts back to its original position. Using his servo arm’s pin claw he removed holding pin which kept the red cover over the main body of the bolter. With this removed he twisted the barrel clockwise at the same time depressing the barrel holding lug and pulled the barrel out. He inspected the inside of the barrel and noted there was score at top, this could catch rounds but not jam it. His servo harness reached over and took the barrel out of his hand and hooked it up to his bench lathe, he tapped the lathes power button and the barrel started to spin faster and faster. Once it hit the right speed he pressed another button on the lathe and small arm extending through the center and started to re-plane the inside of the barrel. While this was happening Koali inspected the gas recoil parts, typically this would get damaged or blocked and this could cause jams. He pushed down on the top of the first gas piston and twisted it clockwise then pulled out the first chamber, he looked into the space that was left and he could see carbon build up blocking the exit port. “Poor weapon maintenance” Koali said out loud, he reached over and picked up one of the half full cleaning bottles and squirted in a small amount of the liquid in to the hole, using a small wire brush he gave the chamber a quick clean and the carbon fell away. He could now see into the next chamber and suspected it was equally full of carbon.

He replaced the first chamber and locked it into position. He then spun the weapon one hundred and eighty degrees and pushed in the second piston and turned it counter clockwise and removed the second chamber, this one was in the same state as the first one. After cleaning this chamber he put the gas piston back in. The barrel had been re-planed and he inspected the work, he was happy that it was clear. He put the barrel back onto the bolter and turned it anti clockwise till he heard a click. With this in place he refitted the outer covering and slid the locking pin back into place.

Normal drill detailed that after repairs weapons have to be test fired so Koali loaded one of the test magazines from under his workbench and headed over to the hole in the west wall, the test firing range. After repeating the rites of firing he squeezed off the clip into a target dummy and the bolter didn’t jam. Satisfied the repairs were sufficient he put the bolter onto the return cart near the entrance, he added a note onto the bolter to reprimand the poor weapon maintenance he had discovered and headed back to his work bench. Checking the clock that repair had taken him five minutes “Not bad” he thought, he had done quicker. He wondered what could have caused the owner of the bolter to miss maintaining his weapon, he knew the force spent eighty percent of their time planet side either fighting or moving. Koali felt a rush of excitement, he was going on a mission, there may not be any fighting but he was going to be deployed. He thought of Onox giving him a look when Stern had mentioned his name, the older Techmarine must have sensed that Koali was getting restless always being in the forge. Onox had always looked out for him, ever since he was chosen to attend training on Mar’s, he had even warned him about ‘The Mercuralogist” and to always bow your head when speaking to him.

He grabbed the other bolter, this one was reported to have the magazine continuously fall out when conducting battle drills. Interesting thought Koali bolters was not known to ever have this issue, he pulled the bolt parts to the rear and inspected the chamber, there were no rounds in the chamber or in the magazine. He removed the magazine and returned the bolt parts back to its original position. He spun the bolter over and inspected the magazine housing, there were no disconcerting flaws in the metal or release mechanism. He checked the front edge of the release slide there was scuff marks on the slider, there was also paint on the slider bar that’s odd though Koali. He held the bolter across his chest and checked clearance from his armor. Plenty there, certainly nothing that would hit the slider. Koali fitted the magazine and put it back on the bench, this one would take some more work to figure out. His thoughts went back to Onox again, since their arrival in the system Onox had been helping Koali and the young adepts with repairs, but in the last two months Onox had been called away time and time again to work on special projects under the command of Stern until it seemed he was never in the forge. While he felt happy that the older Techmarine was being recognized for his outstanding mind and being given opportunities to create new STC variants, he had felt a little left behind, someone who had to pick up the left overs. Koali shook his head, thoughts of personal gain were wrong and he knew it, one day when he was more experienced, He too would get a chance to prove what he was worth.


He grabbed both bolt pistols next, faulty safety catches were a common occurrence, the bars that slid across to block the trigger would bend if one of the battle brothers tried to fire with vigor without disengaging the safety first. Both the pistols were checked for rounds and their magazines removed, the next step was to dismantle to get the grip off the pistols, Koali pulled the bolt parts to the rear and locked them in place with a holding pin, he then turned the pistol over and using his servo arms pin claw he pushed a locking pin from the top of the grip, this allowed the grip to slide forward and it disengaged the firing pin at the same time. With the pistol grip free he was now able to unhook the bent bar from its slide, it took some wiggling and some force and he managed to extract the bar. He fetched two new bars from one of the parts bins on the far side of the workshop fitted the first new pin. He slid the safety leaver to safe and tried to pull the trigger, the bar successfully stopped the trigger from moving back. When trying to pry the second bar from the other grip Koali had to resort to a small welding torch to cut the metal as it was to warped to be pulled from its slide. After fitting the bolt pistols back together he loaded another two test clips into them and fired both of them down their practice range. Happy that the repairs were sufficient he put both weapons onto the returns cart, the repairs had taken him nine minutes. While being common place, Koali had to think what would cause a brother to try and pull the trigger without disengaging the safety leaver, he had heard some terrible tales from marines in the infirmary while grafting bionics on to recently removed appendages. Tales of unworldly creatures who’s claws could rend armor and who were impervious to bolter rounds. Koali stopped in front of his bench again, he had seen countless wars, but he had known the enemies, he understood what they were and how to kill them. If the tales were true would he be able to triumph over them?

Looking at the remaining weapons Koali had a choice now, dislodge the missile, repair the lascannon wiring, figure out the swords power issue or spend more time on the last bolter. He chose the Missile launcher as the next thing to work on, powering up the missile launcher the targeting lens flashed with two red blinks this indicated a jam or unsuccessful launch. “First things first, let’s deactivate this warhead” said out loud and he extended his servo arm down the barrel, using the micro lens attached to the end of the servo claw he located the stuck rocket, the red warhead with dual white strips around the head denoting the munition as a Krak missile. With a thought he had his servo arms claw attach its self to the end of the rocket and the Servo arm’s pin claw unwound the safety locking ring holding the warhead to the rocket, with this removed he retracted his servo arm with newly detached warhead. Setting the explosive aside Koali tipped the missile launcher on its front end and removed the four locking bolts which held the rear loading coil to the missile tube.

With this removed he had an unrestrained view of the rear of the missile. Now he had to remove the secondary fuel cell from the rocket in case it decided to ignite while he was getting the rocket removed. This one was relatively easy there were two indentations on the rear of the rocket, with both of these held down he was able to unscrew the exhaust end of the rocket. All that was left in the tube now was the outer shell of the projectile and one large sliver of metal which looked to be quite jammed between the missile and tube. “Ah ha, now I’ve got you” Koali said out loud.

Part 4

“You’ve got who?” a voice asked.

“Just the cause of this weapon malfunction Onox” Koali said looking up, he had recognized Onox voice instantly and wanted to pay the older marine the respect of looking at him when he addressed him. Koali looked back done and continued to try and pry the small strip of metal blocking the missile.

Onox picked up the recently fixed bolter from the returns cart, he studied the note added to the bolter and looked up at Koali “Poor weapon maintenance?” he asked quizzically.

“Yes, whoever was responsible for that bolter had not cleaned the gas chambers in at least a day, I’d say that’s a dereliction of duty?”

“Fair enough, I’ll see to it that your observations are passed on” Onox replied back.

Onox moved over to Koali’s work bench and picked up the second bolter, he quickly studied the damage note, “the Magazine falls out? What on Mars?” That would never happen Onox said to Koali. “What have you checked out so far?”

“I know, I’ve looked at the release mechanism and there is no mechanical reason for the failure. I did see some paint on the release slide, however the clearance is standard so that one has me wondering” Koali looked up from the missile launcher again. Onox was looking at the damage tag again he raised his eye brows “This one was submitted by brother Kitalia, I recall he’s part of Sgt Jortlok’s squad isn’t he?”

“I think so, they change squads so much I’ve not had a chance to review the latest Orbat listing” Koali answered no listening intently to his old freind

Onox laughed “I think I know the cause of this weapon malfunction”

“Care to enlighten me Onox?” Koali’s reply was terse and he quickly wondered if he had missed something basic?

“I caught up with Jortlok’s squad while they were conducting battle drill before their deployment, Brother Kitalia has… adjusted his armor” Onox was chuckling now as walked over to the returns cart.

“Adjusted, what do you mean? How would this cause the magazine to continually drop from his bolter?” Koali was quickly losing his patience with this game. He knew Onox enjoyed dragging things out but this was getting ridiculous.

Onox put the bolter onto the returns cart next to the other bolter “Brother Kitalia has attached his old chapters shoulder shield to his belt buckle, similar to Brother Fuldo from Lirael’s command squad, the main difference is Fuldo is using my combi melta-plas, you remember that special weapon I was working on two weeks ago?”

Koali looked surprised “I do, so his new belt buckle is touching the release slider?”

“I bet its fine when he’s not aiming, but I suspect when he bring up the bolter his buckle is hitting the slider in the right spot” Onox replied

“Then why was this not diagnosed before coming to me, it’s a giant waste of my time to look into faults like that!” Koali’s temper was rising.

“Calm down Koali, there's a lot to do and I understand you have enough pressure to repair what you can. Let me speak to Sgt Jortlok about Kitalia you focus on repairing” Onox advised

Reciting the prayer of peace Koali felt his temper receding “Thank you Onox, that one was going to have me perplexed for a while” Koali didn’t like to admit when he was wrong but he was very grateful to have Onox take care of that one. It wasn’t the first time the Senior Techmarine had shown great insight, and certainly wouldn’t be the last time to advise on his musings to his younger counterpart.

Changing the tone Onox looked over at Koali “I actually came here to offer you my Tech Rhino for your morning mission. I was kind of hoping to take it for a drive, however Stern has given me an opportunity to work on a Dreadknight and there’s no one else I’d trust to use it”

A smile appeared on the older Techmarines face at the thought of getting his mechandrites on the venerable wargear. “You know that Rhino is large enough to fit Terminator armour. I bet Chaplain Sylekta would be most please if he was able to deploy with his more regal armor. You could be able to get another two bodies in there as well, will you do me the honor and use it?” Onox leaned on one of the spare workbenches while looking at Koali.

“Onox, I’m speechless. I know that your Rhino is quite special to you and you’ve done a lot of the work on it yourself, The honor would be all mine if I could use it” Koali was taken aback by the his offer.

“Don’t get me wrong Koali, if you break it, I’ll make you my personal servitor” Koali couldn’t tell if Onox was being serious or joking around, he decided to go with the former. “I’ll take care of it Onox, you have my word”

“Then it’s done, I’ll update the mission register to include my Rhino” Onox made the Mars sign of brotherhood and walked out of the room.

Well that was unexpected Koali thought as he back to extracting the missile housing from the launcher. He remembered when he first joined the Brotherhood on Titan, all the assistance he had received as well as the tools and wargear he had been handed from Onox. This additional gift, even if only temporary, made him feel slightly more valued to the old marine.