Deep Blue
ask-hydrax:
24hourstilldeath:
24-WLF could almost, but not quite hear the soft thunder of those footsteps approaching for a moment she almost panicked. She was not in a position to fight, only run. Her stomach was tight with hunger, throat aching and limbs sluggish. The woman could, realistically, start heading for the forges again. It wouldn’t take long and the fires would be dim. It was nearing what passed for a night cycle in these parts, the citizens would be leaving their work to the mindless servitors for the night. Servitors did not see anything but the work ahead of them, then…
No, that couldn’t have been it. Samurai moved like felines, silent and swift, not ponderous like these steps. Servitors never used the access hatches and they weren’t nearly that heavy. No demon engines were that small either so…what?
She froze on the spot, huddled in her cold little corner. The transmitter still tracked her location to any Imperial friendly receivers. Nothing that wasn’t using that code could have picked her up so…help? At last?
She waited.
Hydrax and his men pressed onward, readouts projected on their helmet HUDs tracking the distance to the Imperial transmission. Their searchlights were off and they relied on the night vision filters of their eye lenses. The group emerged into an open room filled with mechanical pumps that were lined up along it’s length. The floor was covered in a thin scum of algae and stale seawater. Likewise algae covered the walls of the room too. Near the ceiling, several grated pipes jutted out from the walls, dripping water into the slime below. The room had been filled with water at some point within the last few weeks. Hydrax surmised it was some kind of failsafe room - an anti-flooding measure perhaps, somewhere water could be drained to and expunged from in case of a flood.
The signal was strong here, but the tracker was only so accurate. They were very close to it’s source.
“Split up and cover the room. Ready weapons.” Hydrax voxed to his squad. The unit broke formation and moved individually, their huge grey forms moving fluidly through the murk, filtering between the pumps as they swept the room, almost mimicking the way the great sharks outside the rig swam among the wreckage in the depths.
Hydrax took the lead. He registered disturbances in the algae that coated the floor, and smears on the walls where a hand had braced itself as it’s owner moved. He approached the final pump in the bay. His enhanced senses could pick it up now. In the corner, unmoving. Shallow breaths, trying their hardest to be silent. An heart beating, fast and hard.
Slowly, he rounded the pump and stared down at the huddled form. It crouched there in the corner silent and unmoving, dressed in the uniform of the Death Korps, unsure if it had been spotted yet.
Hydrax activated his searchlight again, the Krieger’s eyes squinted against the sudden change in light, the years had added new scars and lines to her face, but there was no mistaking the blond hair of the mortal.
Hydrax switched his vox to speaker.
“Captain Wolf of the Deathriders 24th. We are here to offer our assistance.”
At first hunger and the overload from the stab lumes registered in her brain as the enemy. Some grey faced tech priest huddled massive armor. Then, she only saw the sharks crawling across his face in inky waves. Then his voice pulled him back from a memory almost ten years forgotten.
When Hydrax moved the lume away, she could see him even better and found herself unsurprised the years had not touched him at all. “Captain Hydrax.”
Her voice grated out his name through a dry throat, something of a wary grin spreading itself across her face. 24-WLF looked tired and a wound festered on her flank, but seeing the terminator activated what little energy she had left.
The woman stood slowly. The augment that supported her right half had been taken off when she was held prisoner and her balance was poor. A replacement in the form of a crude steel pipe had kept her from being unable to move completely but from the banged up left half of her body she’d fallen more than a few times.
Embarrassing then that she looked like this the day he returned to her. No matter. “We should keep moving and make use of our time. I’ll explain as we walk, but the forge servitors will be taking over for the human crews in the forge soon.”
24-WLF walked, though slowly, her voice hissing out in a vicious whisper. “It’s back, my lord. The damned Keeper of Secrets is back. It smells me. I know it does, and it’ll smell you down here too.”
Hydrax’ face hardened beneath his helmet as he considered the captain’s words. This was an ill tiding, and he knew the vagaries of the warp well enough to know this was no mere coincidence. He picked up the pace, supporting the captain so she could keep up with his strides.
“All to me. Back into the access corridor” Hydrax voxed to his men. “I have an apothecary who can see to your wounds. Perhaps we can salvage some form of weapon for you from the bodies around here.” He reached to his belt and produced to the Krieger a small box, which contained a set of submarine-shaped pills.
“These are dietary supplements. They are made for Astartes who are unable to access rations on long campaigns. A single one should contain more than enough nutrients to serve you until we find a proper source of food for you.”
She handed the tin back to him. They exited into the corridor. The servo skull closed the flood-room’s hatch behind them, and a brother Astartes approached the pair. His left pauldron was painted white, emblazoned with the red helix icon of an apothecary.
“Brother Tarek will see to your wound. While he works, debrief us on the circumstances that lead you here. What happened, Captain?”
24-WLF nearly gagged at the size of the pill, but she did not question its offer nor shrink at the apothecary looming over her. Indeed, however, she did gag when she took a swig of water to down the pill and realized it was salty.
It stung when brother Tarek peeled back her great coat to look at the wound she had tried to carefully seal. Indeed it was infected, the edges inflamed and painful. But the woman made no noise. Screaming would be a useless waste of energy she did not have. Her hands writhed against a pole she’d found, trying to fight back the pain enough to speak.
“About a week ago we landed here to assess the disappearance of an Inquisitor who had just discovered some d-damning information on the planet.” 24-WLF paused to gasp as the apothecary trimmed away infected flesh, nearly scrapping against her ribs. “The fact that he vanished at all was a clue. Most were loyal at the time, but as we conducted our own investigations we come across recordings of what he’d found out. Dark mechanicus.” She hissed, shuddering slightly. “Soon after we started…f-finding evidence of demon engines. Warp activity. They have a pysker among them that opened a damned portal and that fucking Keeper had popped out of it. You know they can hide their shapes?”
She grinned, all teeth and anger. “It got its claws into me and it’s voice went into my head but I know better than to listen, but I…well, when I got away the rest of my squad had been picked apart. It wanted me alive for some reason, I think. Got thrown into some hold somewhere, lost track of time. Got out what…maybe several days later, just trying to stay alive at this point. I suspect me getting away has spoiled something.”
She took a breath as she was injected with…something that made her feel dizzy and anxious. Stims, she imagined. I know the patrol patterned for this rig, I can get everyone around them and into the central forge.”
Tactical calculations played out behind Hydrax’s visor as he took in 24’s information, His arm chopping out as he gave several commands to his subordinates in Astartes battle-sign. The terminators formed a phalanx around the wounded Krieger.
“If we can get to the central forge without being detected it would be to our advantage. The longer we remain undetected the better. If we can secure the lower levels, we may be able to teleport in support as we approach the surface and interference decreases.” Hydrax gestured for his men to begin moving. “Medicae Tarek has experience with calibrating bionics.” He gestured to his own left hand, perhaps the only indicator on Hydrax of the many years that had passed since the pair’s last meeting - it’s skeletal metal fingers whirred beneath ceramite plating as Hydrax clenched them into a fist. “Time has not been kind to me. The combat stimulant that he has provided you with should keep the pain at bay and your mind alert until we locate one.”
“It would be advantageous to us to make contact with the loyal Shoguns. We will need as much help as we can get. Tell me, at any point did you encounter rooms with vox relays we can use to make contact with them?”
The press of armored bodies, she found, wasn’t so different from the press of equine flanks crowding around her at feeding time. It took the woman back to old places she should not be, forcing her to shed the memories with a shake of the head. With her belly full of supplements and the debrided wound still fresh with pain, reality imposed itself over her unbidden lack of focus. Then the stimulants began to take hold, eyes dilating and that pleasantly painful tingle of anxiety returned.
“Yes.” She spoke slowly as her body struggled to keep up with her racing, but placid mind. “Close by, actually. It was how I was able to get the signal boost needed to keep my transmissions looping.”
A gloved finger poked into the mire of scum and residue living on the unpainted walls, scrawling out a map. “Further down this corridor is a collapsed tunnel. One of the…beasts got violent, I think. They’ve been busy moving vox relay equipment around, since the old location was lost in the debris. The new location isn’t too much further down south from there, but it’s a full level up. The lifts are all busy as a result. If we can disable one of the lifts, there’s going to be a huge delay and a huge distraction. We can snag what we need then, I think.”
Hydrax’s hand moved to his face plate, and unseen behind his visor his brow furrowed in consideration.
“Disabling an elevator will be no easy task. In a structure like this, they will likely be reinforced and come with multiple failsafes.”
Another of the sharks, a faceless grey behemoth sporting a set of lightning claws, spoke up. “If we can locate an armoury or weapons depot then we may be able to acquire some charges.” Stepping forward, the giant traced the tip of one of his talons along the crude map. “If we follow this set of access tunnels we will be able to move undetected. Melta charges would be ideal. They could provide us with the power we need to disable an elevator, allowing us to move on the transmission room with decreased resistance and make our transmission.”
‘Perceptive, Ateros.’ The clawed giant nodded and stepped back. Now Hydrax raised a gauntlet himself and marked a circle around one of the elevator shafts. ‘This shaft will be our target. We will wait for the elevator to begin operating. Then we will move out and take any forces not on board. Then we can set the charges and detonate.’ Hydrax turned to face 24 now, black visor meeting her unhidden gaze. ‘Are you aware of any munitions storage facilities on this level that we can raid?’
Nodding slowly, the woman took a moment to speak. Her voice sounded distant as her mind gradually caught up with the rest of her body. Vaguely, she realized she would be feverish for a while as her wound healed. “Aye, but it’s in the opposite direction we’re going. I avoided it because, well…” 24-WLF indicated her wound. “Armed guards…but with the tunnel collapse out in the other direction, the patrols might be redirected. But I can’t saw for sure.”
Her shaking finger traced out the alternate route. It looped all the way behind the elevator it turns out. But without any connecting hallways it would be a hell of a trek while keeping hidden.
“If we really need to, there’s the manufacturing plant sunk in deep below us. If we can get the lift stuck on the very bottom level down that way we can just use the empty shaft to get to any level we want, including the vox level.” She pointed out. “And we’d be able to delay retaliation.”
Hydrax inclined his head in consideration. ‘Hm... yes, good. We use our charges to blow the suspension mechanisms of the lift platform. It will drop to the bottom of the shaft and leave it free for us to traverse using access hatches and gangways. Ascent will be slow but most advantageous.”
“With the elevator out of action the guards will also take to using the access hatches to traverse the levels.” Ateros, the clawed giant, pointed out.
“You make a good point.” Replied Hydrax. “You will take Taranis and Kohuru. The three of you will descend to the lower level and begin picking off isolated targets. Remain unseen but do not make an effort to disguise your presence. Once a significant number of enemies are redirected to the lower level, rendezvous with us. Stay to the shadows.”
“Affirmative.” Confirmed Ateros. Kohuru, Who wielded a colossal hammer in conjunction with a slab-like shield, and Taranis, who bore a great two-handed chainaxe, both broke off from the main squad with Ateros. The three clenched their respective fists and claw over their chests in salute before turning and dissappearing into the gloom. It left Hydrax, 24, and the remaining 7 Carcharadons alone in the darkness.
“While Ateros and his men cause a diversion below, we are going to strike the weapons cache” spoke Hydrax, jabbing a finger at it’s location on the map. “Ateros’ distraction will take time to take affect. Expect full and heavy resistance. We will slaughter quickly and spare none.” His voice was stoically monotone, impersonal and unsympathetic for the bloodbath he was planning. Such was the way of the Carcharadons.
He wiped his hand over their crude map, obscuring any sign they had been there at all. It was better to preserve the element of surprise. He reached to his belt and unlooped his hammer, feeling it’s familiar weight in his mailed fist. With a curt nod the astartes began to stalk silently in the direction of the targets.
