"No I have served and served loyally cast my ashes into the void do not entomb me!"-Malcharion the war-sage
Malcharion the war-sage, the captian of the VIII legions tenth company of astartes in short was not having a good day. Not only was he alive and breathing but he was also not interred within his walking sarcophagus. That and Talos and Xarl had come across some of the local xenos life-forms in the process of some debased ritual. And that they had taken it upon themselves to express their loathing of any forms of religious hate by interrupting the said ritual and 'rescuing' the two it was being performed on. Needless to say in Malcharion's mind who or whatever was performing that ritual was most probably butchered in the most cruel, sadistic yet way possible.
But he also had other concerns from what Deltrian had reported their supplies were full. Though this may have been an anomaly due to the fact it had rarely been so even during the great crusade they also did not have any slaves, serfs or servitors. This meant that they would have to use the natural resources this planet provided, as in sentient life-forms. From what Talos and Xarl had reported there definitely were those around the only major issue was that they were xenos. Now unlike most of his brothers Malcharion had been from a time when the night lords traitor legion abhorred xenos more than they currently abhorred the emperor.
Fortunately Malcharion was interrupted from his musing's when Xeverine Voxed in. "war-sage I think we have potential intruders about twelve of them. I am sending you the pict-feed from my helm.".
The vox cut and the picts came into his helmets optic feed, they were peculiar creatures similar to the Orkz sub species gretchins yet they were smaller and slightly differently built. "let them be able to enter". Malcharion paused to let the true meaning of his words sink into his brothers before continuing "all but one of them are fair game Dal Kuras, Xeverine and Vejain do I make myself clear?"
"loud and clear" Dal kuras voxed.
"as crystal" Xeverine replied.
"understood" Vejain responded.
"good now have your sport but do not go overboard with it".
Blitz was thinking that going inside this thing was a bad idea but the others would not hear of it. After all since it came out of the sky like the Dranei it could contain similar technology that was bound to be priceless. But poor Blitz knew that such things like this are not usually left unbarred and unguarded. Needless to say when they found an entrance quite easily he was suspicious enough, but when the others decided to bring him in he was hysterical at trying to do the opposite.
After a few minutes of his hushed cursing Blitz was able to give his fellows the slip. Though they would notice his absence later it was not unusual for members of such parties to go missing before so they would just move on ahead. He had just got close enough to see the light of the entrance, this place was so naturally dark when he felt a gigantic fist snatch him from behind.
Thrashing helplessly his mouth was covered to prevent him from screaming the giant figure turned him around. Looking at it was like something out nightmare. It was huge and impossibly dark its eyes glowed even more red than Grommash Hellscream's ever did. Lifting him so that he was eye-level with it it spoke in common "my name is Vejain of the VIII legion and we have come for you" as the giant finished saying this the faint noise of screams could be heard deeper within.
Staring at the revolting Malcharion mused on its fate. On one hand he could interrogate it traditional VIII legion style but that would render this captive useless afterwords and it is possible that the information given could prove inaccurate. The other hand would prove very unorthodox since it did not require torture in any shape or form, but that is what made it is what would make it difficult for a night lord.
Glaring down at the captive the War-sage asked "what is your name xenos?"
The little green xenos just cowered before him whimpering in fear. The sweet aroma of it almost made him sick. "well what is your name? Speak for my patience like that of my kin is finite."
This produce the same results. Xeverine approached him and spoke "Captain you I believe that you are speaking Nostraman". This caused a few chuckles and laughs from the others who were present.
Glaring at his brother Malcharion asked once again (in high gothic this time) "what is your name?"
"Blitz" the little creature stammered.
It was reeking of fear, Malcharion resisted the urge to simply step on it "so Blitz what were you and your former compatriots doing entering our ship?"
As Malcharion was waiting patiently Ruven entered the chamber, taking one glance at the captive he resisted the urge to crush it instead choosing to walk over to his captain. "I could glean the knowledge from his mind since our 'guest' is not being cooperative if you desire it of me" He spoke in Nostraman to ensure that their prisoner would not understand.
The War-sage turned to regard his brother, he knew better that to trust anything that came out of Ruven's mouth but he was sorely tempted to have him use his 'gifts' on their captive. Turning his face to regard the creature that named itself Blitz he spoke "do you understand that if you do not answer our questions we will just rip it out from you?".
The creature cowered more before for cautiously replying in a shaky and terrified voice. "my former business associates wanted to explore your ship and collect anything of value they found in it. I was against this because I don't well like adventuring into completely uncharted territory". Blitz managed a nervous chuckle before continuing."and well when we got here we decided to go inside well I". The little creature paused again to catch his breath being under the scrutiny of four Astartes (especially night lords) was enough to make anything like this creature over the edge "well I decided I did not want to be anywhere in this place so I decided to move back to our base camp and well I got caught by one of you and well here I am".
"you have a base camp?" Ruven asked in an uncharacteristic way.
"yes" Blitz stammered.
Malcharion asked "does that mean there are more of you?"
"yes"
"will they search for you if you don't return by a specific time?"
"um yes I think"
"you think" Xeverine scoffed at it. This got a few chuckles from the other Astartes in the room. To the unfortunate goblin it seemed as if there was a thunder storm rolling inside the room.
"well these sort of business ventures can be quite hazardous and fatal so it is not unexpected for a venture party to never return" Blitz tried to explain
Malcharion let his brothers have their moment of levity before speaking to Blitz again "so will you be willing to lead us to your compatriots?".
Blitz seemed confused before asking "what do you want with them?"
beneath his faceplate the War-sage smiled "my brothers and I need 'servants' to help increase our functionality and help with the manual labour required to maintain this vessel".
"how many do you need?"
"at one point this vessel housed over 30'000 mortal crew members"
"there is only over 15 of us left"
"that will do"
"I know where you can get slaves from"
From behind his faceplate Malcharion frowned "I suppose you intend to try to conduct some kind of deal?"
Blitz would have soiled himself if he had not already done so previously "uh well". He paused taking in the fact that these people would most probably kill him if they suspected him of deceiving them "well I thought you might be interested and would be grateful enough not to kill me and um well let me go?"
This gained an eruption of laughs from the Astartes. "Us grateful to the likes of you!" Dal Kuras roared incredulity "you should be grateful that you have not shared the same fate as your fellows and believe me the ones that we did kill are better off than the unlucky few that survived.". The demi-gods laughter make the goblin want to shrink into some dark corner but from what he saw (which was not much considering the fact the night lords like to live in pitch black darkness) it wouldn't make any difference.
"Silence" Malcharion's voice cut across the room like a blade across a throat. Glaring at his brothers behind his faceplate Malcharion felt the ghost of a smile come across his lips when said brothers flinched visibly under his gaze. "While you shouldn't get your hopes up xenos as sons of the sunless world we will consider you proposal but like I said don't get too hopeful".
Just then they were contacted across the vox "war sage this is Uzas reporting Talos has returned and as he had voxed previously him and Xarl have brought some natives with them. Xarl himself reportts the he has acquired something for lobotomising."
Malcharion sighed inwardly before responding one the open Vox channel "very well Talos report to me at the blackmarket in the ship, Deltrian please meet Xarl at the apochetharion he has a gift for you. Xeverine take this creature to the navigators chambers, As for you three" he motioned to Ruven, Vejain and Dal Kuras join the bleeding eyes in patrolling the perimeter. To all brothers do not forget to report anything and everything that is approaching before you decide to engage".
"yes captain/war-sage" was the reply that was received through the vox with the exclusion of Vorasha's characteristic 'yes yes'
"good" was what the War-sage thought. He turned once to regard the little creature while he gave it instructions to follow Xeverine before for he turned and departed for the Black market.
If one could say that Mercution was a morose person they might as well say that the world of Nostramo was perpetually dark. His demeanour was morose, sullen and he would see the darkest side of any situation. It is needless to say that is what he saw when he met up with Talos and Xarl on their way to the Black Market. While Mercution was not some Imperial thin-blood and did not loathe xenos as much as his loyalist cousins he was a cautious individual and was somewhat taken a back by the xenos similarities with the eldar.
"Brother are you sure this is a safe move?" he questioned over a private vox channel.
Talos's response was "no but this a good chance to gather information on what is happening locally, I couldn't let a chance like that pass so I decided to act on it".
"be careful brother remember the war-sage is a legion hero you will live or die depending on how you treat him whether he is entombed in a dreadnought or otherwise" Mercution warned.
"understood"
"are we there yet? Being in a place so dark so dark and without any stars even for a night elf is difficult. It also fills me with a sense of dread." the older xenos named Keina had asked.
"no" Xarl grunted he was still irritated with the 'are we there yet' that came from the younger one of the xenos named Leina. The said xenos was asleep and held in Talos's arm. Thankfully the older Xenos had opted to walk once they where in the covenant of blood so Talos was able to leave one arm free for his combi-bolter though now that they were in the ship it made little to no difference.
After what seemed to Keina like hours (when you can't see and its very dark your sense of time seems to become confused in the novels Septimus Talos's seventh slave was able to was able to keep his sense of time by counting the minutes) they linked up with several other of the 'Night lords' as they told her. There were three others besides the two that rescued her, the one that had met up with them some time ago and the two that were waiting in this place.
The one of the Night lords that saved here spoke "here are the xenos as you requested War-Sage"
One of the two presumably the one who was called War-Sage nodded before speaking "thank you Soul Hunter, greetings xenos I am Malcharion the War-Sage the Captain of the tenth company of the VII legion my brother next to me is Veteran Sergeant Vandred Aranthi of First claw three of whom I see you are acquainted. I am sure you have your questions but so do we I hope we can reach some understanding on this".
and thats all for now thanks for the views and thank you Agent-001, Ghost000, Korraganitar the NightShadow, Nagashazzir, fanskap and mr I hat znt nobles kill em for following my story. please read and review if you have any ideas they will be welcome as I am open to suggestions also please read and review my other cross overs.
Just to let you know my poll on what they should do next is now open enjoy also feel free to PM me other suggestions