Chapter 2!
As always, I own neither warhammer, mass effect, or deathwatch.
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The small craft shook violently as it slid into the Gate. In the cockpit, Voss felt himself being pressed down into his seat, his armor creaking under the pressure. His chrono trigger seemed to slow, seconds becoming minutes. White spots appeared before his eyes as the pressure intensified. On comms, he could hear Prophet grinding out a comment.
"I knew this would end badly…"
The pressure was rapidly becoming untenable. A warning light flashed, the shields had failed. A second light flashed. The hull was beginning to buckle. The Gate was going to squeeze them into nothingness. Jaw clenched so tight it hurt, Voss did the one thing he could think of. He seized the accelerator, and pushed it forwards. The ship's thrusters flared, and the ship shot like an arrow into the Gate, driving against the immense outward push of the portal. Voss' whole world was for a brief moment a beautiful, almost blinding, blue light.
Then suddenly, it stopped. The pressure vanished as if it had never been there. He was no longer looking at a brilliant swirl of warp energy, but into the black void of empty space. Voss breathed deeply and offered a brief prayer to the Emperor. He thumbed on the ships logic engine, and rose, a little unsteadily, from his seat.
"Omni to Scholar." There was a tense moment as the vox link remained stubbornly silent. But then with a crackle, Scholar's voice came through.
"Scholar to Omni. Are we through?"
"We're through." Voss left the cockpit, hurrying towards the hold. "Ship logic engine is directing us to our rendezvous point now."
"Good." Scholar grunted. "Get down here. Ghost is trapped under Chyron." Through the vox, Voss could hear the Raven Guard swearing violently.
"On my way."
It soon became apparent that for all the passage had been painful for Voss up at the head of the ship, it had been a catastrophe for the rest of Talon Squad. Sealed in the hold with a dormant Chyron, Voss' brother marines had been bounced around like ninepins, slamming into the walls of the hold and off of Chyron's chassis. The ancient dreadnought, despite being secured by heavy holding clamps, had become partially free from his moorings, his left arm swinging wildly in transit. From beneath the dreadnought's huge powerfist, Siefer Zeed writhed.
"I leave you alone for five minutes and this happens brother." Voss loomed over the trapped Raven Guard, grinning widely.
"Shut up tree stump." Zeed croaked. "Get me out!"
"Leave him there Voss." Solarion leaned on the powerfist, making Zeed wheeze in protest. "It'll be good for him."
"I hate you." Zeed growled. "I really do."
"He might learn some patience." Talon Squad's leader chuckled. "Think of it as training Ghost."
Zeed's alabaster white face flushed red, and Talon Squad relented.
"Alright, alright." Voss said amicably. "Watcher, Prophet, pull him out when I get the fist up. I don't want to drop it on him."
With a grunt, Voss hauled the dreadnought's fist up to chest height, allowing Rauth and Solarion to drag Zeed to freedom.
"Thank you brothers." Zeed coughed. "I'll never say a word against you again." He gave Solarion and Rauth a pat on their breast plates which both brushed aside.
"The day I believe that is the day Macragge falls." Solarion rapped on Chyron's hull. "Any damage to our Honored Brother Voss?"
"Doesn't look like it." The Imperial Fist gave the chassis a cursory once over. "I'll wake him up and run a diagnostic if you want Scholar."
Karras nodded. "Do it." Out of all Talon Squad's members, Chyron was capable of inflicting the most damage to the foe. The librarian had a feeling they would need the dreadnought. "Make sure he's operable." Voss waved in assent, already absorbed by hissing power nodes and start up protocols. Karras left him to it. He left Zeed to assist, and gestured for Solarion and Rauth to follow him. The next step was to make contact with Sigma's operative.
The stealth craft's logic engine had taken over navigation and piloting, directed towards a pre recorded location. Controls moved automatically, an invisible pilot in command. It struck Karras as a little too effective, almost as if managed by an Abominable Intelligence. Still, Talon had dealt with greater techno heresies under Sigma's command.
"Solarion, check our heading."
The Ultramarine slid into the pilot seat, armored fingers dancing over the command console with practiced ease. "A small ice planet two terran hours from our current position Alpha, it appears to be uninhabited."
"I doubt that." Karras grunted. "Anything on comms?"
"No, no signals incoming. Wait…" Solarion tapped a few commands into a console. "One encoded message, hard recorded into the vox."
"Play it."
Solarion hissed in irritation. "It requires a passphrase." The Ultramarine poked the console. "An unfinished quotation."
A little window blinked lazily, presenting a keypad and half a sentence : A foe without honour...
Karras leaned over Solarion's shoulder. "I do not recognize it."
"Nor I." Solarion grumbled. "Did you forget something Sigma gave us Alpha? Lose some piece of intelligence?" He sneered. "I've said it before, you did not belong in command."
Darrion Rauth's soft voice surprised both marines. The Exorcist had come up to Solarion's side quiet as a ghost, peering over his shoulder at the quotation. His voice, usually monotone and emotionless, carried a trace of wry amusement.
"I am surprised with you brother." Rauth leaned over and typed a few words into the console. Immediately the file opened. "That was from your own chapter."
"It was?" Karras felt Solarion cringe internally with embarrasment.
"A foe without honor is a foe already beaten." Rauth intoned. "Helveticus of the Ultramarines."
Karras punched Solarion's pauldron. "An Ultramarine should know the words of a chapter hero Brother." Solarion glared.
"Perhaps my lack of academic enlightenment can wait Alpha." The Ultramarine grumbled. "Sigma's message is open."
Sure enough, a small Inquisitorial sigil floated above the console. The Inquisitor's smooth voice filled the cockpit.
"Talon Squad, if you are hearing this then you have survived the passage through the Gate. You are en route to an ice planet called Nirvana. The planet is largely uninhabited, save for three mining stations. You will land at the largest station where your contact will be waiting for you. Once you reach the station, make for the elevator system on the north side of the station. My operative will be waiting there. He will supply you with munitions and additional weapon systems, and provide more adequate transport. Listen to everything he says, and under no circumstances are you to engage any target, xeno or otherwise unless my operative tells you to. Sigma out."
There was a pause.
"I don't like this." Karras murmured. "Why would Sigma want us leashed?"
"He has his reasons Alpha." Solarion replied dismissively. "We need not understand, only obey."
"What Sigma does not tell us often tries to kill us brother." Karras responded. "Rauth, I need a weapon check. Make sure none of our arsenal was damaged during flight. Solarion, go with him. I want an arctic reconnaissance loadout."
"A long range loadout would be better." Solarion countered as Rauth departed.
"We are not trekking up to the target brother. We are landing beside it." Karras pursed his lips in irritation. Solarion was by nature a know it all. "Do as I say."
"I'll not be blamed when this goes wrong." Solarion grumbled, ducking to step out of the cockpit.
"Bring a Stalker Bolter with you." Karras suggested. "That make you feel better?"
"It helps." Solarion called back. "We'll still all die."
Nirvana was a tiny planet. Preliminary scans indicated relatively weak gravitational pull, and temperatures well below freezing. Atmospheric turbulence was fortunately light, and soon after entry Talon Squad was racing across a field of ice.
"This will be a ground insertion!" Karras shouted over the vox link, his voice muffled by the roar of the ship thrusters. "Arrow formation, Solarion will be point." The Ultramarine flashed a thumbs up. "Voss, Zeed, you two will be on the rear flanks. Chyron will be between you both. " Both marines raised hands in confirmation. Chyron spun the barrel of his assault cannon. The whirring sound blended in with the roar of the ship and the thrum of the dreadnought's engine. It reminded Karras of the angry hiss of a bird of prey.
"Rauth and I will flank Solarion." Karras finished. "Final questions?"
Zeed raised a hand. "Ghost?"
"Can we open a window? Chyron is smoking up everything."
The dreadnought snapped its powerfist at the Raven Guard. "I'll throw you out if you don't like it little bird." Chyron boomed. "Let's see if you can fly."
"At least he'd shut up." Voss laughed. "Hey!" Zeed punched the Imperial Fist in the arm.
"Will you two be quiet?" Solarion growled. "Emperor forgive me you try my patience."
"Lock it up all of you." Karras barked. "Thirty seconds out." He hammered a pad, releasing the harness that secured him to the hold wall. "Make ready!" Talon Squad rose, the slides of bolters clicked loudly, targeting systems flicked red laser sights over the hold. "Helmets on." Five snarling black helms hissed as they sealed onto the gorgets Talon Squad''s battle plate. The marines Karras had spent ten years of his life with vanished beneath the glaring helmets. Zeed's forever smirking and angular face transformed into the face of a long beaked demon. Voss' boulder like visage, pocked by a web of scars became emotionless black steel. Solarion's dour frown faded into a dark glower, the advanced targeting optic on his right eye whirring as it calibrated for range. Rauth's statuesque expression was mutated and twisted, replacing the grim stoic Exorcist with the visage of a snarling demon. Karras donned his own helm, feeling the helm's psychic hood begin to interface with his armor. The hood amplified his own psychic abilities, acting like a conduit. He began to whisper to himself, humming the mantras of power taught to him as a neophyte by the librarians of his chapter on the Death Spectre homeworld. A brief moment of pain, and a bloody wound opened beneath his helm, exposing the fiery third eye on his forehead. His eyes glowed with white fire, and the world rushed into impossible clarity. he could hear the heartbeats of his brother's dual hearts, feel their thoughts as if they were his own.
A small timer blinked on his HUD display.
"Ten seconds!" He barked. "Prepare to disembark!"
The wind howled like a wolf drowning out the rumble of the entry doors and the scream of the engine.
"The Emperor is with us brothers!" Karras shouted. "In His name!"
"Suffer not the Xenos to live!" Talon Squad answered.
The ship shook as it met the ground. Talon Squad was out in under a second, moving across the ice in perfect unison, as smoothly as a raindrop sliding down a pane of glass.
"Talon Alpha to Talon, comm check."
"Talon Two, clear." Rauth hissed in Karras' ear.
"Talon Three, all clear." Voss rumbled over the vox.
"Talon Four, no movement." Solarion replied curtly.
"Talon Five, bored." Zeed snickered.
"Where is the foe Alpha?" Chyron boomed. "I wish to spill the blood of the Emperor's foes."
"Soon brother." Karras replied. "There will be foes aplenty to sate your thirst for battle."
Ahead of the kill team rose an ugly gray station, huge plumes of steam rising from smokestacks.
"Can we clarify soon?" Zeed asked. "The Old One and I are tired of waiting."
"Be quiet Five." Solarion snapped. "Alpha, movement, fourth smokestack." Solarion's bolter rose to his shoulder. "Human, armed, long range rifle of some sort. I don't recognize the uniform."
"Has he seen us?"
"Negative. He's facing away from us."
"Keep moving. Get out of his line of sight." Talon Squad broke apart without a word, spreading out and picking up pace, sweeping over the ice and into the shadows of the station walls.
"I don't have eyes Alpha." Solarion grunted. "We're exposed here."
"Scholar knows what he's doing Prophet." Zeed's voice crackled on the vox. "Shut up."
Karras checked his HUD compass. "The north side is to our right. Prophet, you lead." The Ultramarine didn't respond, but moved on regardless, stalker bolter leveled. Karras fell in behind him, followed by Rauth and the huge form of Chyron.
Talon Squad slid forwards, the astartes moving from shadow to shadow in total silence. Even Chyron, a full twenty tons of metal, was like a ghost, the only sign of his passing a gentle vibration of the ice beneath Talon's feet. The Deathwatch marines were next to invisible. The brilliance of the sunlight on the ice made normally faint shadows pools of deep darkness, completely enveloping the six astartes.
"Two targets, four hundred meters." Solarion whispered suddenly, dropping to one knee behind a chain fence. "Armed, rifles and sidearms."
"Our contact?" Voss asked.
"Possibly." Karras agreed. "Move into overwatch. Prophet, Omni, find positions of advantage. Chyron remain here. Watcher, Ghost, on me. If we take contact, consider anything that moves Mortis Extremis."
The grunts of affirmation rippling through his vox, Karras stepped out of cover, his battle brothers behind him.
Daniel Long shivered. His uniform wasn't designed for this kind of weather. The Illusive Man had taken Long from a very enjoyable job pretending to be an aide for the Alliance Embassy on the Citadel, and dumped him here. To make matters worse, he'd also sent Long company. Normally Long wouldn't have minded, but...
"I'm freezing my dick off out here."
Captain Gren wasn't what Long considered good company. The Ceberus commando and his unit had been sent as a security measure. Long thought they were unnecessary, after all, Nirvana was the emptiest planet in four star systems, but the Illusive Man disagreed. So did Gren. On his first day, Gren had cornered Long and made it abundantly clear what he was authorized to do should Long fail to follow the Illusive Man's orders.
"Then go inside." Long snapped, blowing on his frozen fingers.
"And leave you out here with the cargo?" Gren laughed nastily. "Fuck that."
"I'm not going to run away with it." Long grumbled. "Each crate weighs a fucking ton as it is."
"I'm worried about the ship you dozy sod." Gren hopped up and down, his weapon rattling against his armor. "That thing must have cost a fortune."
He had a point. The Illusive Man had sent Long to Nirvana not only with what must have been enough ordnance to fight a small war, and a ton of sealed crates he had been ordered to not open on pain of dismemberment, but also a sleek, beautifully designed star ship. If a vessel could be called sexy, this one was. Long had grown up on star ships, had spent a few years with the Alliance Navy, but he'd never seen a ship like this one. It flew so smoothly you could forget it was moving. It had a stealth drive. A stealth drive! He hadn't been allowed in the engine room, but he was sure it ran on something other than Eezo. No element zero dependant ship could match the speeds that beautiful beast could put out. Even its name was sexy.
The Final Secret.
Long desperately wanted to fly her, the spacer within him screaming to put that ship through its paces. But the Illusive Man had been clear. Only his assets could use the vessel, it was needed for an important mission. Long didn't want to know what kind of job required such an advanced ship. Not a pleasant one he bet.
He shivered again, and stared at his boots. He heard Gren swear, and turned to ask what was bothering the bastard this time.
A nine foot tall mech loomed over him, burning red eyes glaring down at him. Long felt a warmness in his trousers. Two more mechs appeared as if from nowhere.
"Are you our contact?" The first giant boomed, in a voice like distorted terrifying thunder.
"Aaaa..." Long gagged.
"Are you our contact?" The giant asked again.
"You from the Illusive Man?" Screw Gren. To his right, Long saw the Ceberus commando had swallowed his fear and was staring calmly up at the giants.
"Yes."
"Then that's us." Gren stuck out a hand. "Andrew Gren." The first giant cocked it's snarling head, then shook Gren's proffered hand. The commando's whole body shook like a rag doll.
"Scholar. You have orders for us?"
"Ask my bitch friend here." Gren pointed at Long. "If he hasn't shit himself already."
The giant seemed to ignore Gren, and turned to Long. "Orders?"
"H...here." He handed over a data slate. "The Illusive Man said everything you needed was on there."
The giant was silent for a moment. When he spoke again, it was to Gren. "My brothers report soldiers on the towers of the station."
"Your brothers?" Gren raised an eyebrow. "That'll be my men, just keeping an eye on things."
"I dislike being watched by armed men." The giant growled. Gren shrank back slightly. Long smirked. Not so tough after all huh?
"I can get them down here." The commando offered.
"Do that." The giant turned away, data slate in hand. The other two stood still as statues, staring impassively and Long and Gren. As the commando barked into his commlink, Long worked up the courage to ask a question.
"I have a lot of ordnance here. What do you guys need this for?"
"Were you told?" One of the other giants asked, less like thunder and more like a serpent's hiss.
"Um no..."
"Then do not ask." Long whimpered.
"Our orders require your assistance." the first giant turned suddenly, striding up to Long so quickly the Ceberus agent jumped backwards.
"Wh...what?"
"We are to be outfitted with Omni Tools." the giant growled. "You are required for that."
"You don't have Omni Tools?" Gren half laughed.
The giant looked at him sideways. "Should we?"
"Well..I..it's okay if you don't…" Gren's men began to file out of the station, stopping in shock when they caught sight of the three giants. Like their commander however, they recovered and formed a rough half circle, hands conspicuously on their assault rifles. Long doubted they'd do any good if the giants turned violent.
"Is this everyone?" the first giant asked. Gren nodded. The giant grunted to itself and rose to it's full height.
"Talon Squad. To me." Two more giants appeared as if from nowhere, melting out of the shadows. Shouts of surprise accompanied them, and Long winced as he heard the unmistakable sound of rifles being primed.
"Hold fire! Hold...oh god…" Long's voice died in his throat. A huge machine emerged, a massive fist and even larger cannon on either side of a massive armored chassis. A long ornate rectangle only describable as a sarcophagus adorned the terrifying machine's center.
"Such illustrious company sent to greet us." the machine roared. "Such an honor for His chosen."
"That thing can talk?" Gren gasped.
"This thing is Chyron little man." The machine boomed. "Chyron can also reduce you to bloody mist."
"Do not threaten them." the first giant barked. "They are needed."
"Don't see what for." The machine grumbled. If he wasn't so scared, Long would have laughed. It sounded like the machine was sulking.
"Now," the first giant leaned forwards. "About these Omni Tools."
Their contact stammered and whimpered too much for Karras' liking. Even amongst Imperial citizenry, the Astartes inspired a measure of fear. But this went beyond that into plain cowardice. Still, the fear made the man efficient. He leapt to obey Karras' instructions, quickly digging five little strips of metal from a metal case.
"These are Omni Tools. They include a communication interface, an Extranet module, personal accounting, camera, machine interface…" Karras glared and the man shut up.
"What do we need these things for?" Zeed asked over the vox as the little man attached one of the strips to the Raven Guards gauntlet.
"Sigma says we need them for everything." Karras sighed. "Apparently they work like personal logic engines, able to interact with other tools, doors, vehicles, everything."
"Huh." Zeed peered at the strip of metal intently. Sigma's operative shrank away.
"Useful." Voss' voice was tinged with excitement. "What else does Sigma have for us?"
"You can toy with it later brother." Solarion replied. "Focus."
"Don't pretend you aren't interested Prophet." Voss chuckled.
"I do not let that interfere with operational discipline." The Ultramarine retorted, watching Rauth kneel to have his Omni Tool attached.
"Uh... there's a tutorial on each tool." Sigma's contact mumbled cautiously. "All your supplies are here, your ship is over there." He pointed, and Talon Squad followed his hand.
Karras had never seen a more beautiful ship. Over the vox, he heard Zeed whistle appreciatively.
"Sigma's going all out for us eh brothers?" Voss laughed. "Almost makes me not hate the slimy bastard."
"It is a beautiful vessel." Solarion agreed, awe in his voice, operational discipline forgotten.
"A fitting vessel for the Emperor's chosen." Even over private squad comms, Chyron's voice was deafening.
"Alpha." Rauth's voice cut into Talon's train of thought. "The operative."
The man was shifting from foot to foot.
"Speak." Karras grunted.
"The Illusive Man had a message I was to give to you." the man stumbled over his words.
"Talon, Contact designated Mortis Proxima."
Karras felt a brief flash of anger. Sigma's ruthlessness was beyond even what a space marine deemed necessary.
"Wait!" The little man screamed as Talon Squad leveled their bolters. "What are you doing?"
"It's a trap!" behind Sigma's quaking operative, the commandos sprinted in different directions, diving for cover or rushing back towards the station.
"No survivors." Karras snapped. Bolters barked, Chyron's assault cannon roared, and bright purple plasma flew from Voss' plasma gun. The operative and his companions were cut down in an instant, torn apart by explosive bolt rounds or incinerated by plasma fire. A few commandos tried to fire back, but died before their weapons could reach their shoulders, bright orange flashes preceding their deaths.
They have shields. Karras realized.
"Targets eliminated." Solarion's voice was icy.
"Sweep the station. The enemy has personal shielding. Leave none alive." Karras grimaced. He disliked kill orders. They felt like betrayal.
One of the commandos, their leader, was dragging himself towards a rifle, blood pouring onto the ice from the remnants of what had once been his legs.
Karras stepped on the rifle, looming over the stricken man. Behind him, the Librarian could hear Talon Squad moving past him into the station.
"Why?" the man croaked, staring up at his killer.
"You were unfortunate." Karras replied. "You were deemed no longer necessary." A bolter fired.
"Who else is in the station?"
"Scientists." the man coughed. He was growing pale. Blood loss would claim him soon. "Researchers." he spat onto Karras' boot. "Civilians."
"There are no civilians in the war for survival." Rauth strode up to Karras' side, the barrel of his bolter steaming.
"We both work for the Illusive Man!" the man was fading in and out of consciousness now. "We're supposed to be allies."
"No." Karras sighed. "We serve your Illusive Man." He reloaded his bolter. "You were merely tools, easily discarded."
He fired once.