Tooth And Claw Part 2
A Charmed Life
Sergeant Ariston was out of luck. He had managed to escape the Tyranid Deathworld and the Khorne worshipping traitors that also fell there. Now, in the big black nothingness of space he had no options. Had he escaped one vicious death only to switch to a slower, more tortuous one? He couldn't run the engine for any extended length of time, it had been damaged and slowly leaked radiation. His natural astartes durability could compensate for it easily, but if the engine was pushed it would surely explode. Ariston didn't know for sure whether he could survive that, but knew he didn't want to find out.
His only choice now was a gift from the Emperor, in the form of the Su-san membrane. An implant all initiates get in their brain. It allows the marine to enter a self imposed hibernation when situations got dire. This situation was dire. The downside is that, the marine can't wake himself from it. It takes a librarian or some other highly trained individual to resuscitate the astartes.
Ariston looked out at the black one last time, and said a prayer to his fallen Primarch before closing his eyes and slowing his breathing. In short order, the blackness came for him.
# # # # #
His body was wet, naked except for a cloth covering his groin, and he couldn't seem to move. Partially due to the hibernation weakness and partially due to a thick chain that held him in place at the neck. He heard voices but could not see. Another language? Not any Gothic he had heard. Too complex. Female? The voice faded in and out then disappeared.
He awoke again. This time, bright light. The fuzzy outline of figures. He had slipped out of consciousness again. How many times has this happened? How long had he been here?
"You have many questions. I can hear you thoughts roaring at the blackness. You will get answers, but you must rest." The crisp elegant voice said.
The sound grew quieter as it spoke. It walked away.
light hit his eyes like plasma fire. He awoke again. This time he could see everything. He was in a prison cell. Chained at the throat to the stone wall. His sacred armor removed. The marine's head pounded out an excruciating two flutter rhythm in his skull.
The voice returned, "Hello. Do you know your name?"
When the voice spoke his pain subsided. A figure stepped from behind the wall. A tall, thin, robed female with long purple hair and pointed ears. Eldar. Xenos. Filth.
"Do you know your name," she asked her large violet eyes unblinking and staring.
"My name is Sergeant Ariston Killian of the 5th Company Blood Angels."
"Good. I have never brought anyone out of such a deep hibernation before, I was worried your mind would be mush. But, you know your name and rank, I don't imagine there is much else rolling around in a marine's head."
"Where is my armor, weapons, gear?"
"Disposed of. You won't require them anymore."
The marine heard that sentence and felt a crushing blow in both his hearts. An Astartes without his holy ceramite? He wouldn't let the xenos filth enjoy his suffering. He buried his anger deep. He knew enough of the alien to know your thoughts were not safe. You had to protect them at all times in their presence.
"What is to become of me?"
"You will be sold. Ork slaves fetch a large amount in the fighting pits. Imagine what a valiant warrior of the Imperium of Man would get me? Or maybe a Pleasure Planet. I have often wondered...are you marines...you know? Can you still," The eldar female curled her lip while pointing downwards.
Ariston's anger flared white hot as he stood, he imagined tearing his neck chain off, then reaching through the bars to tear the xenos witch in half with his bare hands.
"Stop chaffing him Zaranda, you've had your fun," another voice said from down the hall. It was male and gruff, as if from a lifetime of yelling.
A human wearing a deep blue leather coat, black pants and scuffed boots stepped near the bars. He had a large belt with various odd items hanging from it. Some weapons, others the marine had never seen.
"Sorry, Blood Angel. Zaranda isn't fond of your kind. Asartes burned her parents to death, so…well, you understand."
A rogue trader.
Ariston had heard of these men before but had never met one. Licensed by the imperium to explore, claim land, and even trade with xenos. Some Rogue Traders took that exemption to mean they could have them as crew. The topic was highly debated in Imperial council meetings, unfortunately no Rogue Traders ever came to any.
"Being a fellow agent for the Imperium, I demand that you set me free," Ariston said staring down at the captain through his cell bars.
"Certainly. But the way I see it, we rescued you. So you owe us. "
The Angel of Death didn't care to hear words like debt thrown toward him. He had fought hundreds of battles all over the Emperor's kingdom. Freed worlds, purged heretics, and burned xenos scum. His life was given freely to preserve Terra and Baal, not the whims of some puffy backwards human and his alien confidant.
"What...do I owe you, sir?"
"Okay. Good. Well first off. We pulled you and your craft out of the blackness on good faith. We found you, revived you, and took care of you here. We could have just let you keep on floating till you fell into a star or some Nicassar junker pulled you up and gutted you for parts. But, we didn't."
"How kind of you," The marine said coldly.
"So anyway, we didn't know if you were going to wake up. My mechanic Grunder, couldn't help himself but to look at your ship's engine. That ain't no Guard transport. That is some high-end Mars conversion. Where did it come from?"
"I found it. On a Tyranid Death World."
The human and the eldar looked at each other in disbelief.
"Right. Well, we got some rough space we are going to be sailing through and we could use some extra manpower. I figure you help us with five jobs, we give you back your armor and weapons, drop you off at the nearest Imperial friendly planet, and part ways for good. How's that sound?"
The marine looked at the eldar female his eyebrows furrowed. Her rouse exposed, she just shrugged and smiled.
"I have a question," The astartes said touching his chin.
"Certainly," The Zaranda replied.
"What if, instead," The marine jolted up faster than the eldar was expecting, reached up, tore the chain out of the wall, dashed to the bars, bent them, and snatched up the Rogue Trader in one hand, he continued, "I tear your head off, crush your eldar concubine and take the ship myself?"
The Rogue Trader struggled to breathe as he pushed his fist into the marine's stomach, "I have a...digi-lascannon ring pointed...at your torso. I pushed...ugh...the activator rune already, if I don't toggle it off...quick, it will fire through you."
The marine growled and put the Trader down. He adjusted his coat, stretched his neck from side to side and choked for a moment. "Also, Zaranda has a shock collar on you. If you had killed me, she would have activated it and that would be that. You would seize up and we'd throw you out an airlock."
Ariston looked at Zaranda and she blew him a kiss, then winked, holding up an activator stud in her hand.
"I'm Nathaniel Aleister Belmont, Captain of this ship: The Thunderclaw. We have an understand now, yes?"
The marine's face scrunched, "Thunderclaw?"
"Yeah, it was called 'The Scion of Bounty' when I got it. I don't know, I liked Thunderclaw better."
The captain stopped at a oversized door at the end of a hallway and held his hand out, 'Here you go. This used to be an Ogrun's room before I got the ship. You will probably find clothes to fit you in there. We can't have you fighting enemies of the Emperor in your skivvies, right?"
Ariston opened the door and began to move through it when, Aleister stopped him.
"Look, Ariston? Is it? I know this isn't what you wanted, but it is the best I can do. If you give me your word, I'll give you mine," The human held out his hand as a gesture of faith. The marine looked at the human for a moment then enclosed his massive hand over the captain's and shook it. The captain winced, withdrew his hand, and inspected it quickly, before nodding.
Ariston entered the room and looked around. It hadn't been inhabited for some time. He managed to find some clothes that he could fit into and tie onto himself. The cloth shirt and pants felt odd to him. He hadn't worn anything but his armor the and occasional robes in decades. Not since before he was an initiate. Feeling presentable, the sergeant wanted to find his way to the bridge. He was anxious to fulfill his boons and get back to his battle brothers.
As he opened the door, he looked down the long hallway. A hormagaunt dashed by into the nearby passageway. He slammed his door shut, and quickly scanned his room for a weapon. Seeing none, he moved to the table in the center of the room, flipped it, tore the leg off, and charged out the door. He silently stalked the halls.
Had he seen a hormagaunt or was this more side effects from the hibernation or the mind-witch?
He heard a clip-clop sound coming from around the corner ahead. The sound of Tyranid hooves burned into his mind from the Death World, he jumped out swinging at the chitinous beast.
It ducked and jumped back. It screeched and ran down the hall. Ariston stood there dumbfounded. He had never seen a Tyranid run before.
Was he that intimidating?
He continued to search the halls for the beast. He knew where you found one, there were always more around.
The passageway opened into a larger area. This one had cages and glass tanks holding wildly different and exotic creatures. Ariston allowed himself a moment to look at the creatures inside, but heard the familiar sound of hooves approach. He was ready this time. He saw movement and attacked. He brought his wooden club down, just missing a metal disk that bounced off his leg. At the other end he saw a Kroot warrior. The marine shook his head furiously.
Had he gone mad?
The Kroot warrior held onto a large bone and tugged at it. On the other end was the hormagaunt that ran from him. The shared a similar color pattern.
"There you there. You mareen," The warrior pointed with the bone. The hormagaunt hissed at the marine as he closed. "You the one, chased m'clixster?"
The marine stood watching the hormagaunt. It sat next to the blueish-white kroot. "Why does it not attack?"
"No reason to. It's me pet, clixster. Named Joba," the kroot said stroking the animal's head, "I'm Waku. Me the tracka for the Captain."
"That is a foul creature and needs to be killed immediately, Waku," the Blood Angel said leveling his club, "It can call more of it's kind and they will destroy us and this whole ship."
"Not how they work, mareen."
"How do you know that?"
"I have had this one for three cycles now, no other ones have come for us."
The Blood Angel shook his head and stomped by. He had had enough of this damned ship already.
The bridge was familiar enough. Imperial craftsmanship was always comforting. The room was a large oval. Different stations on the bridge filled the outer areas, in the middle has an oversized oval with holomaps floating over it. In front of that was a raised platform with Aleister lounging in it, with Zaranda hunched over him, both looking at a dataslate. As the Angel closed he ran his fingers over a raised aquila on a control panel.
"Well, Well, look who decided to join us. How you feeling, Ariston?"
"I wish to speak to you alone, sir," The marine said ignoring the eldar woman.
"Uh. Okay. Excuse us, Zaranda. We'll be right back."
Zaranda nodded and when Aleister got up, she plopped down into his seat chewing a yellow piece of fruit. The nearby servitor crew continued to perform their menial duties.
The marine and captain stepped into his war room. A library surrounded them. Piles of maps, charts, and odd statues and trinkets lay all about.
"I need you to release me from my word, Captain."
"Whoa, whoa there Ariston. You haven't been awake for a whole day yet and you already want to back out of our deal? What happened?"
"You have shown a flagrant disregard of the Emperor's teachings. Your ship is disgusting. It is filled with xenos, including an eldar warlock, and a Tau sympathiser who has a hormagaunt running around your ship? Have you lost your mind sir, sir? Or has that xenos mind-witch corrupted you?"
"Ariston, things are done a bit differently out here. That eldar mind-witch, as you call her, has helped me liberate seven Imperial settlements from savage eldar raiding parties. Two without firing a single shot. All now paying tithes to the Imperium of Man. Waku, the Kroot tracker helped stop a genestealer infestation by tracking down a human who was hiding the little beast in her hut. He also hunted down a pleasure cultist that was turning imperial citizens into sex perfume."
The Blood Angel stood quietly staring at the captain.
"You see, you may not like how I do things, but we're on the same team. Not everyone fits on simple black and white teams out here. Any one of us would be killed by the majority of our faction, if they ever got hold of us. Except you, of course. You're an astartes. One of the valiant warriors of the Emperor! You know no fear. Well not all of us were lucky enough to be selected to join your ranks. Some of us do the best we can with nothing."
"I had never considered…" The marine began to say, then stopped. He wasn't wrong to follow his programming. Their philosophies were at an impasse. He remembered what his Captain used to say: "When you find yourself tied up with an ally in negotiations, compromise."
"Captain Belmont, I see that we have different viewpoints on how things work. This is your ship, and as you said: we have an agreement. For these five missions I will put aside my conditioning and aid you.
"Great. I know it will be difficult standing alongside your enemies, but I've heard of the Space Marine's legendary mental fortitude. You'll do fine."
The klaxons began blaring in the corridor as the lights went from soft white to red flashing.
They had been boarded.
"Already? With no warning," The Captain said sprinting to the bridge with Ariston in tow. The bridge doors closed behind them and the sound of metal tearing could be heard. Small razor edges poked through the door from the other side.
"They are coming for the bridge, " The captain yelled out as he grabbed a large revolver pistol from under his chair. He took cover behind it and threw a las-rifle to the marine.
Ariston caught it, and held the little weapon in his hand.
What am I to do with this?
The doors were sliced opened and the circular cut fell onto the floor with a loud clang. Lithe black and green armored forms flipped and rolled into the room.
The captain cored the first one's head open and it flopped to the deck in a heap. Zaranda flipped over to the group with long silver swords that glimmered in the near dark. Her speed combined with the enemies made it hard to follow the specifics of the fight. Back and forth, thrust and parry, up the wall, rolling on the floor. As fast as it started, it was over. One of the dark kin laid beheaded. Zaranda somersaulted into melee with another fighter and began another dance.
Ariston watched the shadow xenos close on him, and he aimed the rifle and fired it. The xenos' armor absorbed the blast and it kept coming. It spun in the air. While sprung, it flipped out a large razored net onto the marine. The edges bit into Ariston's flesh. Stinging pain corsed all through his body, fueling his rage. He tore the net off, yanked it towards himself, pulling the dark warrior off his feet. The astartes plucked him out of the air and slammed him down onto the deck, hard. The warrior shuttered and tried to scramble free but The Blood Angel pounded his huge fist into its face until it was a red sticky paste.
A hail of splinter rifle shards ripped into the marine's back. Shockwaves of agony rippled through his nervous system as he fell to his knees. Black spots started to form in front of his eyes. The Angel ground his fanged teeth, reached over and pulled two swords from the pummelled dark eldar warrior. To the marine they were sized more like long knives. He wouldn't normally use xenos weapons, but the rage called to him. Blinding, searing anger pushed him to kill all in his gaze, as he tore into the remaining raiding party.
He traded slashes with them. Theirs were deep incisions causing alternating burning and stinging pain with each swipe. His removed heads, arms, and legs with each swipe until the blades finally broke.
Ariston screamed as he mutilated the bodies of the dark kin. Then he locked eyes with Zaranda. Her usual coy smile faded as she slowly stepped away. Ariston, eyes wide, charged, swinging his fists wildly at the warlock. Zaranda flipped and dodged staying safe from his fists. One misstep and her long lifespan would be cut painfully short. Zaranda ran up the side of the wall, pulled her activation rune and triggered it as The Blood Angel dove for her. Electricity surged through the Angel as he hit the deck, jarring in convolutions. Finally falling unconscious.
The captain ran his thumb around the edge of the hole in his bridge door.
"Luckily they were just a small kabalite band. Nothing too serious, get Grunder up here to weld this door-"
A black handed gauntlet grabbed Captain Aleistar by the throat lifting him into the air near the bridge's umbilical passageway.
The shadowed sybarite spoke, using a language Belmont did not know. A blue liquid leaked from the commander's eyes. Veins in his skin could be seen pumping this fluid throughout his neck and exposed captain struggled to free himself but this demonic elf held him one handed in the air.
Zaranda translated his demands, "He says this is his ship now. We are all his slaves."
Belmont said, "Tell him he is vastly outnumbered, let me go and he may leave."
Zaranda explained in the dark kin's tongue. The Sybarite replied.
"Another raider will be here momentarily and the ship will be flooded with our screams as we die moment to moment."
"Tell him to Hell with that, I'll just kill him now." Zaranda explained the message.
The Dark Slaver looked at Captain Belmont and started to shake and hiss. The closest thing the warrior could do to a laugh as the drugs raged through his veins.
Captain Belmont arched his back and kicked the control panel next to the doorway. The upper and lower panels slammed shut instantly, cutting off the warriors hand and locking him in the airlock.
The Dark Eldar Warlord screamed and reached for his side pack, before he could open it, he had already been flushed out the door into space.
Captain Belmont fell to his feet and looked at the seperated hand.
"Any of these rings, worth anything, Zaranda," He said throwing the bejeweled gauntlet.
Her face grew sad as she looked at the largest stone, "This is a spirit stone.
"How much are they worth?"
"It's empty. We don't sell these, Aleister."
Belmont saw the hurt in her eyes and knew not to push the matter.
"The Eldarith Ynneas are not to be underestimated. Their ships run silent. They could still be following, right in our wake and we wouldn't know it," Zaranda said.
"Well let's get a move on then," The Captain said standing over Ariston's body and wiping his own neck with a bloody handkerchief.
"Call Waku up here. Have him clean up Ariston, also he and his pet can eat good tonight,"
"Aye, Sir," Zaranda said with a nod.
#####
Ariston woke laying facedown on a concrete slab. His back vibrated pain every time he moved, even slightly. Arms chained underneath and his shirt and coat removed. He tried to wrench his head to get a better view of his cell.
The Dark Eldar must have me.
His mind immediately began to form a plan of escape when Waku walked in, He wore a filter mask over his beak and had on black leather and metal gloves.
"Looka who is back." Waku said.
"Why am I chained to this table, Kroot?"
"Me remove the darkith shreds from your hide. It's dangerous and hurt bad. Wanted to no get punched in the face. I give you the numbing shot first."
"I have been hit before by The Dark Eldar's splinter rifle shards before. In the neck, Waku. I just pulled it out. It hurt, yes, but the wound healed in a week. Astartes are bred tougher than you are used to. I am sure the anesthetic won't be nessessary"
Waku walked around to the front of the marine and squatted down in front of him, looking eye to eye, "You got twenty three shards in ya back, ass-tar-nees. You no want numb, I just start pulling them out."
The marine looked at the floor, "If it...puts your mind at ease...use the numbing agent, Waku."
Despite the medicine, Ariston's screams eventually filled the medbay.
Part Three will be along soon. Thank you.