Foul stenches permeated the stale air inside the unlit sewer tunnels. Glowing orbs bathed the rusty iron pipes in soft blue light, left there by the Eldar to lead the way. Khalaina wrinkled her nose as she stepped in yet another puddle of Emperor-knows-what, grimacing as she pulled her boot free of the semi-solid brown mass with a loud squelch.
The warren of tunnels seemed endless, and she felt like she was going around circles until she spotted some feature or other that indicated otherwise, usually a rotting corpse that wasn't there the last time she swore that she had taken the same turn.
She noted, however, the distinct lack of fresh casualties. Every body she discovered had been dead for years, and nothing shifted in the emptiness save for her and her team. She looked back at Connor, who gave her a slight shrug. Something was not right.
Finally they reached an intersection in the sewer. One corridor lay straight ahead, another descended helically to her right, and a second led straight down. It was here that the glowing orbs ceased to appear. All of her sight was provided by the sole orb laying the centre of the intersection. The perfect place for an ambush.
"I don't like the look of this," Said Connor as he stepped up beside her, "It seems too… trappy."
"Trappy?" Khalaina replied.
"I apologise, my lady, but a more suitable word has not yet graced my vocabulary."
"In that case, I agree, it does seem 'trappy'." She glared into the dark, trying to look for markings or clues, "How's the vox?"
Connor shook his head, "Static on all channels."
Khalaina sighed, "If you want something done right, never ask a Xeno to do it."
Something shifted on the helical staircase. She saw the shadows move a fraction of an inch and she instinctively attacked the darkness with flame. Lasbolts from her squad joined the brief assault, but nothing remained when the smoke had cleared save for charred stone.
"Look out!" Connor shouted as he shoved Khalaina into the side of the sewer. A slug flew through the space where her had had been only a second ago, and struck the stone behind with a loud crunch which reverberated through the tunnels.
As she lifted her head, she saw the approaching humanoid shapes in the passageway ahead, and heard the pattering of bare feet and the clicks of talons upon stone from both staircases. Cries from the rear of her party indicated that they were now surrounded, and the trap had been sprung.
Inhuman growls echoed from the approaching cultists, followed by the arming of ancient autoguns from a bygone era, but no less deadly for it. Without a second thought, she pushed herself away from the wall, and gave the order to fire.
Connor' lasgun was the first to fire, and instantly dropped one of the cultists. Several lasbolts flicked past before the loud coughs of autogun-fire shattered the silence as if it were glass. The tunnel was a tight space, and the slugs slammed into their targets with ease, but lacked true penetration and were repelled by the flak armour of the guardsmen, but left their wearers winded.
A slug whizzed past Khalaina's cheek from behind, and she chanced a glance, finding the guardsmen now engaged in desperate hand-to-hand fights with the outflanking cultists. What the cultists lacked at ranged capability, they made up for ten-fold in melee; their sharp talons and razor teeth tearing through flak armour and flesh with ease.
Her inferno pistol was rendered useless by the range of the cultists ahead, and the presence of her entire squad in the line of fire to the rear, and so she reluctantly holstered her prized pistol, drawing her power sword instead. The blade felt uncomfortable in her hands, and she rarely called upon it, but she could not afford to be picky here. It crackled with blue energy, and bolts arced across its face like a deadly light show. With sword in hand, she gave Connor a quick order to hold the line, and pushed through to the rear.
As she emerged, she was immediately beset by the cultists, their minds sensing that she was now the largest threat. A sharp thrust felled the first, the powered blade slipping cleanly through the half-human as if he were simply air. A second cultist lashed out with one of its clawed hands, and she rushed to deflect the strike, slicing the appendage clean off. If the cultist was in pain, then it did not show it through its alien sneer, but another thrust made sure that he was put out of whatever misery he was in,
"My lady, the stairs are full of these beasts; we cannot hold them back!" Connor shouted over the cacophony of battle.
"Hold the line, Connor! The Emperor shall grant us victory over these beasts!" She swung at another cultist, splitting him in two just below the shoulders, "In the name of the Emperor, you will stand your ground!" Her rallying cry received roaring acknowledgement from the outnumbered guardsmen, and they redoubled their defense.
Her blade whirled in crescent arcs as she became reacquainted with the weapon, but the confines of the tunnels were deceptive, and in the middle of another killing blow, the blade struck the stone roof, slicing through until it slowed enough to ground to a halt. The cultist wasted no time in mounting a counter-attack, but found a bayonet driving through its skull as it lurched to strike. The guardsman gave Khalaina a sharp nod as she pulled her blade free, and drove another strike into the face of a second cultist, before a third kicked him to the floor.
Khalaina darted forward and speared the Xeno on her sword, kicking the corpse free. The guardsman lay on the floor with large bloody gouges in his chest where the cultist's talons had torn through. Regardless, he fired frenzied shots into the mass of enemies with his lasgun until he finally succumbed to the blood loss.
What seemed to have taken hours had taken only several minutes, and Khalaina now stood beside only three other guardsmen; Connor and two others from the PDF force. Pain erupted from points where she had been slashed, the adrenaline coursing through her now subsiding enough for her wounds to make their presence felt,
"My lady, you must leave us behind." Connor panted, "The assassin at the start came from the helical staircase; that's probably where the Magus is."
Khalaina faltered, but as the cultists slowly crept in to finish them off, she felt herself edging towards the staircase, "May the Emperor watch over you." She muttered to the three guardsmen. With a burst of speed, she dashed towards the staircase; those who tried to stop her were blocked by lasbolts until she was gone.
All she could hear was the spluttering of autoguns behind her, and the screeches of the cultists. Her legs carried her as fast as they were able through the narrow passageways, and her heart hammered inside her chest. Adrenaline once more filled her bloodstream, but she did not look back. She was not afraid of the death that awaited her should she slip or come to a dead end, no, what she feared most was the Connor's last stand could be for nought. And yet, the tunnels kept going.
It took her a minute to recognise the lack of footsteps chasing her, and the lack of alien chatter. Cautiously, she slowed as she approached another bend in the tunnel. Nothing was following. She rounded the bend and found a second staircase leading further down into the underhive.
Each step was careful, and eventually flickering orange light licked at the stone walls. Holding her power sword in one hand, and her inferno pistol in the other, she strode down the final few stairs, and came out into a brightly-lit space. Braziers of flame lined the walls, separated by doorways to more corridors and flights of stairs. The room was devoid of much else save for a decedent altar at the very back.
Standing before it, dressed in a heavy robe of red and gold, was what looked to be a stumpy man, except his head was large and bulbous, with veins criss-crossing the surface, and his eyes were simply pits of black like those of beetles,
"Greetings, Interrogator; I have been expecting your, albeit your corpse more than your living self. Allow me to introduce myself; I am the sole Magus of this cult, and I am more powerful than you could possibly imagine." The Magus uttered every word wholly and perfectly, as if taunting her with its intellect.
"The Emperor cares not who you are, nor your purpose on this planet. In his name, I shall strike you down and end your uprising."
"End? But my dear, did the Eldar not tell you? The Hive Fleet entered this sector two days ago. It has been sitting dormant on the edge of it, awaiting the signal to feed." Khalaina's eyebrows furrowed, and the Magus laughed, "Your efforts have been in vain, especially since the signal has already been given. Strike me down here, human, but it shall make no difference. We shall feed."
The air beside Khalaina's face hissed and a hole appeared between the eyes of the Magus, his jaw still open in laughter as he swayed and slumped to the side. She turned and saw Connor propped up beside Erix, and a warlock standing astride the pair,
"Not now," Khalaina had barely even opened her mouth, "It is time to leave; your part in this is almost over."