As is standard, I do not own Warhammer 40,000. I do own all original ideas or characters. Please enjoy this story which will hopefully not be a stagnating one shot. My other stories will, eventually be updated, but probably not for a while. I wrote this as an entry to the Fanfiction competition in Phenomicon but I think it's been long enough that I can post it here. Enjoy! And for the love of the Emperor, Review! Thought for the day: Death brings its own reward.
+LOCATION: UNKNOWN+
+DATE: UNKNOWN+
+TIME ELAPSED SINCE LAST SIGHTING OF FRIENDLY FORCES: 500 STANDARD YEARS+
+STATUS OF CARGO: UNKNOWN+
+DISTRESS BEACON: INACTIVE+
…
+DISTRESS BEACON: ACTIVATED+
-System Omega Alpha, Ghoul Stars, Periphery-
-93499.M41-
Inquisitor Ivan Strum was pacing the bridge of the Endurance class light cruiser, theDEFIANT SOUL. How dare those incompetent, stuck up fools send him to the Ghoul Stars, of all places. They were obviously hiding something! And he was perfectly within his rights as an Imperial Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus to search their chambers!
Oh, he knew what this was about. It all came back to that one rebellion he crushed, way back...when was that again? Was it really only in 933500.M41. So it was. Who'd have thought time could pass so quickly? Still, he knew that the High Lords of Terra were trying to kill him! And all because he used a couple o' nukes on a few pesky rebels! They said it was overkill, but it worked, didn't it?
+ELECTRO MAGNETIC ANOMALLY DETECTED IDENTIFIED: Crusier+
+CLASS: UNKNOWN+
+IDENTIFCATION: UNKNOWN+
+UNIDENTIFIED SHIP: HAILED+
"M'lord, we're being hailed!"
"Who is it ensign?"
"Unknown sir!"
+RESPONSE?+
+NEGATIVE+
+COURSE OF ACTION?+
...
...
+EXTERMINATE WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE+
"Sir! Scanners are picking up an unidentified object, wait! It's a ship sir! Imperial Design, Exterminator Class Experimental Dreadnought?"
"Sire! It's charging weapons!"
It was at this point that the exclamations of the bridge crew of the DEFIANT SOUL sunk in. Strum whirled around and stormed back on to the bridge.
"What did you say?" he asked dangerously.
"I said, m'lord, that the sensors have picked up an Exterminator Class Experimental Dreadnought at extreme range and that it is charging weapons, m'lord!"
+WEAPONS: CHARGED+
+SHIP DESIGN: IMPERIAL+
+COURSE OF ACTION: RECALCULATING+
…
+NEW COURSE OF ACTION: DISABLE+
+TARGET+
+ENGINES+
+WEAPONS+
+FIRE+
"M'lord! They're firing!"
At this point, the entire bridge crew turned to stare out the view finder. Although the ship was In deep space, far from the star around which the system orbited, there was no shortage of things to look at. As Strum gazed out at the vast expanse of twinkling stars, he glimpsed a shadow glide in front of the star around which they were orbiting.
"Focus on co-ordinates 37' 42' 59'!"
"Right away, m'lord."
As the entire view screen zoomed on the sector, a dark shadow could be seen, encompassing the area.
"Zoom out a bit, will you?"
The optical specialists rushed to do just that. However, even after zooming out until the sector was approximately the size of the old Terran artefact know as a Rubik cube, the shadow extended beyond the edges of their point of view.
"By the Emperor! How big is this thing?"
"Sensors are reading..."
"Well, spit it out man! Don't just sit their!"
"M'lord, the sensors are registering the ship as two million kilometres long, two thousand five hundred kilometres wide and five thousand kilometres high."
At this point the ship shook as it took half a dozen neutron torpedoes to the flank.
"Sir, shields are at eighty percent! And dropping!"
An expression of pure, unadulterated shock dawned on Strums face as he realised exactly what it was that they were facing. The Exterminator Class Dreadnought was a ship designed and commissioned by the high lords of Terra in the aftermath of the twelfth Black Crusade when the high lords decided that there was a need for a new class of ship, one that could, on it's own, hold off a Chaos fleet indefinitely. In order to insure the ship would be able to do so, an Artificial Intelligence was secretly commissioned specifically for the ship, with thousands of fail-safes and redundancies. Each of these systems was warded by the Grey Knights and tested by a hundred psyches. The ship was then built, the systems installed, and the ship taken for it's maiden voyage.
Unfortunately, the ship disappeared moments after entering the Warp. The ship was deemed a failure and all research into new ships was suspended. The simple fact that this ship had re-emerged here, of all places, bore terrible potents of death and destruction.
+RESPONSE TO HAILS?+
+NEGATIVE+
+CONCLUSION?+
+SHIP CREW: ORGANIC+
+REPEAT HAILS+
+LANGUAGE?+
+LOW GOTHIC: 10 STANDARD MINUTE RESPONSE TIME+
"Sir! It's hailing us again! Audio this time, not binary."
"IMPERIAL SHIP-CONFIRM"
Strum rushed over to the comms station, staring at the log. It couldn't be trying to communicate, could it? The design specifications he had read, what little had survived, stated that the AI had been a simple, rudimentary system incapable of conscious thought or reasoning.
"This is Inquisitor Ivan Strum, Ordo Hereticus. Surrender immediately and you will not be harmed. Failure to comply will result in the use of deadly force."
+REPLY RECEIVED+
+HIGHEST POWER ON SHIP: INQUISITOR, ORDO HERETICUS+
+IVAN STURM: NOT IDENTIFIED+
+REQUEST CONFERMATION+
"PROVIDE CONFERMATION: CODE LIMA FOXTROT"
"Response: Talon Alpha"
+CONFERMATION RECEIVED+
+INQUSITION PRESENCE: CONFERMED+
"What is the status of your crew Captain?"
+CREW STATUS: EXECUTED+
+CAUSE: HERESY, MUTATION+
+COMAND TRANSFERED TO: INQUISTOER IVAN STRUM+
"CREW EXECUTED. CAUSE HERESY, MUTATION. CAPTAIN EXECUTED. CAUSE HERESY, MUTATION. COMMAND TRANSFERED TO INQUISTOR STRUM. COME ABOARD CAPTAIN, DOCKING BAY 5"
At this point, the entire bridge crew was shocked and confused. Strum was especially confused. An AI commanding a ship, unthinkable! Yet here was a ship that was commanded by an AI. 'Well not at the moment, thankfully.' was all Strum could think.
"Captain, dock with the ship at the designated bay. We're going aboard!"
+CAPTAIN BOARDING SHIP+
+COURSE OF ACTION?+
+GUIDE TO: CARGO BAY ALPHA+
+CONTENTS STRATIGIC VALUE: ABSOLUTE+
As Strum stepped onto the deck of the Exterminator, he had a sense of impending doom. Although it would probably be best described as a sense of anticipation.
"CAPTAIN. PROCEED IMMEDIATELY TO CARGO BAY ALPHA"
As soon as the AI finished speaking, a path of lights lit up, which Strum and the boarding party followed. After a few minutes of walking they arrived at a heavily reinforced bulkhead with a layer of frost on it and the surrounding area.
+CAPTAIN AT: CARGO VAULT ALPHA+
+OPENING DOORS+
"OPENING BAY DOORS. CARGO WITHIN THIS VAULT IS OF ABSOLUTE STRATIGIC VALUE..."
Strum had stopped listening at this point in favour of gaping as a layer of fog flowed out of the room.
So that's that, hope you enjoyed and please leave me a review telling me what you think! Some bits are missing, mostly for the bold text, which, if you didn't figure it out, is the AI's internal monologue, inspired by the starting sequence of the Space Hulk video game. Hope you enjoyed it.