Part one - Born out of treason
+++5.455.984.M41+++
+++Rexon, Subsector Drake, Sector Yamata, Segmentus Obscurus+++
+++Harland II - Naval docks - Heavy cruiser Emperor's Fury+++
*Krsshhhh... Krshhshhhh... Clang... Krsshhshhh*
The silence aboard the unfinished Emperor's Fury was breached by a sissling sound, interrupted every now and then by a loud bang. The hallways of the ship were dark and abandoned, the floors filled with powercables. A few polishing servitors stood aside the walkway, powered down, moisture forming on their, slightly corroded, metal parts. It was cold aboard the hulk of the battleship as life support systems were kept running at minimum capacity. Still, in the middle of the hallway, near a heavy safety hatch, two persons huddled down, heavy blastmasks on their heads, operating an industrial sized welder. A soft humming came from the machine which slowly died as the two men lifted their masks.
"Right, that's done." said a heavy, hoarse voice. "Indeed, they'll need to bring in some heavy ordnance to force this thing." replied a deeper, but younger voice. "And it'll stand up to whatever pressure is put against it if the enemy would ever breach the hull of our lady." "Hah! Like that would ever happen." came the reply of the second man, a trace of humour sounding through. "Don't laugh Akira. You haven't been assigned to one of the ships returning from battle. The wounds the enemy inflict are not to be trifled with." "Ah Svensson, a good thing that you welded this thing solid fixed then." Svensson grumbled and stowed his blastmask in a pouch hanging from the welder. Picking up a lumen globe, he flicked it on to inspect their work. "Come on Lars. Enough with the jokes. I'm tired as it is and we still need to take the long walk to the station." The other man got up and instead of carefully putting his mask in the second pouch, he threw it on the machine with a smile. "Alright then old man. Let's get moving!"
Lars broke into a jog and started running down the corridor, provoking an annoyed sigh from Svensson. "Oh come on, man. You know what I mean. It's bad enough that technographer M5 had us do overtime. Don't go straining my old bones with that nonsense. For Throne's sake, calm down a bit. I'll buy you a beer when we get there." "You know you shouldn't. Ellen will tear your head off if you come in any later than necessary." Even in the half light, Svensson's deep frown was clearly visible. "If you keep your mouth shut, she'll never know. Besides, a beer after this shift is necessary." And with that conclusion the two men start their way back to the station.
The two men were nearly at the exit to the docks, near the Enginarium of the ship when Svenson suddenly stopped. With the meagre light of the lumen globe, he peered into the shadowry space of one of the hundreds service tunnels, putting his hand on Lars' shoulder. "You see that?" Svenson grumbled. Lars crouched down to take a look at the small hallway. Everything appeared to be normal. The metal grated plates that made up the floor were placed neatly next to one another. The emergency lighting inside the tunnel wasn't lit, but the two red, sturdy glass lumen globes were undamaged and no tools were lingering around. "What Svenson? Did you take a drink alre..." Svensson interrupted his younger colleague abruptly. "Look here, you insolent young dog."
Svenson moved a bit closer to the opening and held the industrial light source closer to the ground. There, right under their noses, and stretched out along the entire length of the service tunnel, a thick groove was grinded in the metal plates. "That can't be right." whispered Svenson as he felt the groove with his thumb. "Come on old man. This is probably someone from R-gang that was sloppy when they put these in." Lars said as he got back up and straightened his aching back. "No my friend. The service tunnels in section G where the responsability of B-gang and technographer RH7, aka technographer Nitpicker." "Oh, that tjätman." replied Lars and with a servitor-like voice he imitated the techpriest, "This operation is performed with suboptimal quality. Restart and repeat procedure. That is the güvernor of anal. You must be right. It weren't the guys from R-gang. But so what? Let's move on. There is nothing for us to do here." The old man sighed once more. "You think the navy would win it's battles with that attitude Akira? If we want to give our boys a fair chance out there, they need to be equipped with the best of the best. And I'll make sure that Harland will always provide the best of the best. I'll go take a look. Just to assess the damage. I'll report it to M5 tomorrow. Perhaps he might even reward us with an easy shift for our vigilance." "Right, like that would happen... Knock yourself out. I'm staying here." a sulking Lars replied, "Just don't take all day. I'm freezing my bollar off here. And don't even think you can get forget buying me that drink." Lars smiled, "And don't get lost like last time!" Svenson ignored the mockery from his younger colleague and on a more serious tone he said: "One of these days, you'll need to grow up Lars. The Emperor is counting on each and every one of us. We need to prove ourselves worthy of his protection. It's our duty." And with those words, Svenson dissappeared inside the service tunnel.
Lars waited a couple of minutes at the exit of the service tunnel. Each time he breathed out, a white vapor formed before him in the air. He rubbed his hands to keep warm, but it was a futile effort. After five minutes, he had had it. Just when he wanted to leave, he heard a loud bang, as from metal on metal, ringing throughout the ship's empty hallways. *AAAARGH* The scream reached Lars' ears only moments later.
'The old fool got himself in trouble, Akira. Blast!'
Without wasting any time, Lars crouched down and headed into the service tunnel. Without a lumen globe he couldn't sprint through it and even if there would have been sufficient lighting, running down the cramped space, would only have enlarged the chance of banging his head against one of the many pipes or heavy metal taps that were spread out along the tunnel. It wasn't before long though when he banged his head anyway. He felt how a thin stream of blood trickled down his left temple, but Lars swept it away and due to the cold, the blood coagulated soon after. With a sore head, he drudged on, until suddenly he heard voices coming from further ahead. A dozen paces more led him around a corner and a weak light shone at the far end of the tunnel. Voices were raised and he could overhear a heated discussion. However, Svenson's voice seemed to be missing.
"He'll jusst have to go. He'sssseen too much." the lisping voice of a woman was clearly infused with anger. "Think woman. Svenson is well known. His disappearance would only invite more prying eyes." a low but rasping voice replied. "I'm not ssaying that he hasss to disssappear, but he musssn't talk. We could make it look like an acssident."
"Yes, we could have done that... Until you stabbed him in the chest you crazy bitch." As the conversation went on, Lars frantically thought what to do. It was clear that his friend's life was in danger. Lars checked the pockets of his cargopants and the pouches of his toolbelt. The best he could find, was a sturdy, but discouragingly small hammer.
'Oh well. It's only two of them. If I can surprise them, I should be able to take them both on. First I'll hit the man on...'
*Shlick-Shlick... BANG* "That's settled." a third booming voice cuts in. *Shlick-Shlick... BANG* "And decided." the voice continued. "Zephr, you moron. What are you..." the first man started to protest. *Shlick-Shlick...* "You had anything to add, fraghead?" the booming voice said. "I thought so." he continued when no one spoke up. "Now... Luckas, strip him of his gear. Aninka, you're coming with me. We'll shove the body in an airlock and dump it in the void. He was with D-gang, wasn't he? They have been working on airlocks all week. It'll look like he had some work to finish and accidentily cut the wrong cables... If they'll come looking for him anyway. Now, what are you waiting for Luckas?"
Lars sat still in the tunnel, not daring to move. It would have been folly to go up against the two bastards alone, but going up against three, with at least one of them armed with a gun... That would have been madness. From the end of the tunnel came the voice of Luckas. "There. All done. But I'm telling you that this will only cause more problems. What about his overseer?" "We'll let Engineseer RA5544 sort that out." Zephyr shouted back. "We're not paying that cogboy for nothing. It's time he starts earning that money. Grab his ankles Aninka." "Sssure, sssure, make the gal do all the hard work." the woman hissed.
A few moments later, Lars found himself alone in the tunnel, the usual silence aboard the ship returning. Not knowing what to do, Lars stayed in his hiding place. After a few minutes, he swallowed and started crawling towards the exit of the tunnel. When he reached the open hatch, he saw that the standard lighting had been lit. He also noticed that his right hand felt warm. Looking down, he saw that it was coloured a deep red. The metallic tang of blood reached his nostrils. Lars had to swallow again to keep the bile at bay. Without thinking he swiped the blood of on the wall. When his hand was more or less clean, he looked up to see what Svenson had seen.
It appeared as if the service tunnel had led him straight to the exhaust vents of the Emperor's Fury. At first it seemed like nothing was out of the orderly, but then Lars remembered the thick groove, etched in the floorplates of the tunnel. The groove was still there and led to one of the 3-by-3 metre wide emergency valves of the battleship. Carefully, Lars left the cover of the tunnel and followed the trail. With a small effort, he managed to climb the valve. On top of the construction, Lars stumbled over a heavy pneumatic drill. Dozens of coinsized holes littered the giant tube of the vent, just in front of the emergency valve. Lars was no techpriest however, so although he realized that Svenson was right about the fact that something didn't add up, he had no clue to what had been done here. Indecisive, he stood on top of the giant tube, trying to figure out what to do. However, a decision was forced on him when he heard the footsteps of a couple of people coming closer from one of the hallways that led to the chamber. Reflexes took over and Lars sprinted for the service tunnel, fleeing the scene.