Pain. It hurt.
But pain meant life. If he was in pain, he was alive. Because life was pain.
So the pain was a good sign. Good. Now if only he could open his eyes. Because they felt kind of heavy. That was to be expected Harken supposed. A bit of bloody lose and serious impalement issues tends to cause things like that. Still he wasn't an Astartes for nothing. With an effort he opened his eyes.
A white ceiling. Silver machines. Tubes. Whirling sounds. Quiet voices, but heavy footfalls. An Apothecarium then. He just wanted to rest...
Chapter Master.
Escape. Burning.
He could sleep when he was dead.
With a grunt he placed his arms on the surface of the metal slab on which he lay and pushed himself to a sitting position. While the faintness crept through his body from the overexertion, he looked around and confirmed his location. Definitely an Apothecarium. Marines lay on slab tables all around, armour in various states of destruction from cracks to being scrap metal. Limbless marines determinately clenched their jaws as sawbones cut away tissue to damaged to save, while others used the supplies on hand to tend their wounds.
"Ah, you are awake" The jovial voice of Erasmus Ironburg rung through the small sound dampener unit that surrounded the healing section Harken sat upon. Soon enough the newcomer came into view. The white coloured armour, small in size for an astartes, was covered in blood, obscuring the green pauldron and the Invaders icon. His helm was off, showing the old marines weather beaten and scarred face. Erasmus wore his snow white hair short around his head, bald on top. Four small metal studs where embedded in his brow just above the right eye. An arterial spray had caught him in the head it appeared, dying part of his hair red.
Harken could barley stand the too happy apothecary at the best of times. This was far from the best of circumstances. "Apothecary, tell me what happened," he shot out quickly, to deter any idle conversation.
Erasmus cocked his head slightly, his eyes sweeping over various monitoring systems as he reached out to make several adjustments to the systems. A robotic arm lowered itself from the wall and injected Harken with several liquids. As the medication quickly began to restore Harkens strength the veteran astartes began his report.
"Part of the command bridge collapsed while the Fires made its strategic withdrawal," he sniffed, sounding none too happy "a support came free and went through your chest. Your multi-lung was forced to shut down and your secondary heart is a write off. We had to replace it with an augmentic. A console also appears to have hit your head rather hard. When you removed your helm, your skull all but fell apart. We had to speed up the healing process. You are needed." he ended gruffly, seeming a bit jittery.
"What do you mean, speed up?" Harken asked suspiciously as he slowly attempted to stand. He noted that he wore only patient clothing. His armour was nowhere to be seen.
"Metal bars melted to the skull" was the quick response as the apothecary handed him a small mirror. "The chapters commanding officers await you on the reserve bridge" he added before darting away.
Confused, but happily numb from the provided drugs, Harken raised the mirror to his face.
He blinked.
He blinked again.
His face stared back at him from the reflective surface. Only, it bared only a passing resemblance to his face. Well... his old face at least.
Horrendous scares criss crossed his face where the apothecary had cut him open to place metal plates. Metal plates that where visible as raised rectangles under the skin. Two studs covered his light brown eyes, and his former dirty blonde hair was cut away.
He blinked again. This was useless. He had a chapter to see too.
Slowly Harken exited the room, pausing only to cover his patient garb with a chapter training robe. At a sluggish pace he made his way to the secondary bridge, briefly stopping several chapter serfs to confirm it's location, passing through grim corridors decorated with the trophies of a thousand wars. Captured alien equipment and skeletons stared down from glass cases, while power conduits sparked from overhead. Servitors and surfs rushed to and fro carrying equipment for the fast moving Techmarines who paused briefly to bark orders before moving on.
Eventually he arrived at a large armoured door guarded by two Terminator armoured veterans. They both nodded quickly before one palmed the activation switch.
Taking a deep breath Harken strode forth.
***Invasion***
Tell me if I make any spelling mistakes please, and I will fix them. Also, any advice you feel it need to hear would be welcomed. This is the only time I will ask.
