The dark voids between the reach of stars is marked by black swathes on the star maps of the civilized races. These astral deserts are empty of life, the only objects to occupy their space, desolate hunks of rocks, derelict wrecks and the dreaded space hulks. Modern manned spaceships had no reason to step foot in their barren clutches, warp travel making such excursions unnecessary. So the wilds of interstellar space lay largely unexplored and unregulated as Imperial picket ships stuck to inhabited systems for their patrol routes.
The sector to the galactic west of the planet Tolis in the Deyar sector was such a blank space, the astronomical charts designating it as subsector Etuis, home to minor asteroid belt, and leaving it at that. Really more of a footnote than a description but Battle fleet Deyar had no business there so it was left as such.
Today there was something worth of note happening in the empty swathe of space, not that any Administratum scribe would ever get to mark its passage.
Framed against the empty plane, the Black Saint lingered like a fat charcoal colored tick on the galaxy's underbelly. Over six kilometers from bow to stern the Slaughter class cruiser was a fearsome and noble sight to behold. Jutting gargoyles adorned the fearsome ships jutting corners and sweeping gothic columns and faux stained glass hull sections completed the illusion, turning the floating monstrosity into a splitting image of a mobile cathedral and an extremely well armed one at that.
Lance batteries, lined six one each side, shared space with heavy bombardment cannons and heavy torpedo tubes. Alongside the bottom of the ancient craft ran the titanic proportioned plasma cannon, capable of vaporizing entire cities from orbit with one shot. Fighter bays speckled the rear section of the bridge tower capable and willing to at any minute disgorge dozens of short range fighters and bombers, or boarding craft as seen fit. Heavy troop transports lay nestled in recessed sections of the hull. With them troop deployment to an orbited planet would be fast and ruthlessly efficient, bringing the soldiers and heavy machinery needed to dominate any situation within a mere matter of hours.
Inside the behemoth was equally impressive and dangerous. The cathedral theme was continued, but in most places horribly warped. Obscene tapestries adorned the bare metal walls of the hallways, depicting acts of the most loathsome and debased nature. Altars were set up in meeting halls, mutilated bodies splayed in obscene acts of sacrifice, blood pooling on the deck below. In some places organic protrusions mixed with the mechanical workings of the ship, tendrils of pulpy flesh working in sync with the millennium old equipment. The air itself was heavy and poignant, rich with perfumed scents and aerosolized hallucinogenic cocktails of the most potent dangerous sort. Those not acclimated and protected from the subversive atmosphere would find themselves falling to their knees in gibbering, slobbering madness or running wildly through the ships halls from hallucinated evils. Which was odd, to say that there were plenty of those around anyways.
Deep within the command spire lurked one of those evils.
Lucious the Blessed sat on her/his leather covered throne, rapping his fingers on the padded armrest. With every rap, the chair shuddered, the still living bodies of the victims used to construct it moaning out their pleasure at his consecrated touch. In his other hand she clutched a jewel encrusted golden gauntlet, filled with the finest wine the Eye could produce, its surface boiling and smoking with untold magick qualities.
"My lord, it's just as you predicted, our agents on the surface, they...they followed the Inquisitor, he went to the merchant and took something from him." The nasally voice of the man prostrated in front of him was starting to annoy the Slanneshi sorcerer. "The ship has left the planet's cordon zone and has entered the immaterium as you again predicted. Truly your insight and farseeing power knows no bounds my lord. Let me be the first to congratul…"
Lucious cut the sneeviling man off with a wave of her hand. "Of course it happened as I foresaw, I who am most betrothed to our most unholy patron. Your doubt displeases me." He gestured again and cut off the man's sycophantic protestations before they inevitably began, sending a psychic jolt straight into his mind. Immediately the unfortunate cultist fell to the skin covered floor, muscles twitching as untold orgasmic pain over threw his nervous system into complete ruin. Tendons snapped as his body cavorted into impossible angles and blood leaked from his mouth. The eyes boiled, popping like rotten eggs, spurting pus and bile high into the air. The sounds of ribs cracking in the most pleasant manner met the sorcerer's ears along with the audible squishing noise of internal organs popping and liquefying. The stench of excrement and blood mixed with the ambient aroma of incense to create a truly unique smell.
Lucious took a swig of his tainted wine, a smile now gracing her lupine features. Suffering always pleased the god of debauchery and as one of his devoted servants it was the same for him. However as always the need for more stimulation gnawed at her mind and he pressed the intercom button mounted on his living throne's arm.
"Yurick, inform the supplicants to gather in the arboretum, I'm feeling in the mood for a party." She instructed, already salivating at the prospect of further debased revelry.
"Yes my lord." The intercom spoke, not an electronic buzz, but instead in a gurgling voice. It was after all a mouth and a pair of ears, one of those from his chair's unfortunate victims that was now slaved to this task.
"A party?" a low sloppy voice called from the far shadows of the throne room. Lucious' second in command and Master at Arms now made his appearance, stepping out of the dark and into the smoky half light of the chamber, all three purple and black armored meters of him. He was a fearsome and disturbing sight. His power armor was coated with dried blood and sexual secretions, his shoulder pauldron adorned with the winged claw of his legion. His stylized helmet was hanging at his side, revealing his highly mutated and fantastically scarred facial structure to light. Missing the lower portion of his jaw, it was instead replaced by a pair of dripping mandibles like the jaws of some giant beetle. Between them the thing that had once been his tongue hung, long and phallic like, vibrating wetly with every uttered syllable.
"Yes Maldor, the demon-helm has already been instructed to follow the False Emperor's ship through the warp at a distance and we will be alerted if they drop out." Lucious stated, already bored again and literally itching with impatience to get down to the festivities soon to be occurring below.
The Emperor's Children Chaos Marine, laughed a low wet sickly sound. "I do not doubt it Lucious, I merely wished to verify my own ears. We have not had a proper offering for some time." He began to shudder then, orgasmic seizures at the very thought of their hermaphroditic deities blessing. To combat this, the purple giant pulled his combat knife from its sheathe and began to violently slice the skin of his exposed scalp, the comforting feel of old scars reopening and blood dripping into his eyes serving to calm him.
Seeing his seconds return to sanity, Lucious stood, readjusted her pristine fur robes over his curvaceous form and stepped over the still twitching remains of the nameless cultist. Stepping up to the now moaning Marine, she reached up with his finger and wiped some of the blood matting the giant's long bright violet colored hair. Sliding the digit into her mouth he savored the taste of the tainted blood before wrapping his one arm sensuously around the Chaos Marine's filthy midsection.
"Well then let us make with the revelries." Lucious said in a sultry tone, leading her second by the hand out of the throne room and into the twisted passages beyond. He could already hear faint screams coming from below and she quickened her pace, soon sprinting with mad abandon. The party had already started; it wouldn't do to be late.
…
Jax paused at an intersection, considering which passage to take.
'They all look the damn same, how are you supposed to find your way!' he mentally raged.
He picked one at random, pursuing the left corridor. Soon his judgment was rewarded as he stumbled upon a sign marked "Mess" and his meandering journey was at last over. He didn't know how long he had been wandering throughout the bowels of the Tantalus, but he knew it hadn't been over an hour. That probably wouldn't do him any good though, if his boss was anything like Tanya. He cursed the woman again and imagined what he would have done to her if they had met back in Avalon.
'Damn probably the same," he admitted to himself 'that girl is frakking crazy!'
All thoughts of his boss, good or bad were whisked away as the corridor in front of him seemed to stretch and bend, like melted rubber poured out over glass. He dropped to his knees, placing his hands on his stomach as he dried retched. The sense of vertigo was intense but as fast as it came the feeling subsided and his vision returned to normal.
'Shit, so that must have been a warp jump.' He surmised picking himself off the floor. 'Now I know why everybody on boards so crazy, if they have to put up with that sort of thing all the time.' He quickly stumbled his way to the mess entrance, glad he hadn't had anything to eat since yesterday. Otherwise his jumpsuit would have been vomit encrusted; he'd already had one bad impression today and didn't want another.
The mess was as he remembered it, three rows of long low floor mounted tables taking up the majority of the space, a serving counter on one side and a condiment station on the other. Currently there was an assortment of crew members lounging at the tables, a mixture of blue and olive drab colored overalls. The green he would soon learn, marked the crewman as a member of the security detail, the blue general crew. Ignoring the looks some of the crew threw in his direction he made his way to the double doors that led to the kitchen. They were blue and had little clear plastic portholes that you could look through. Jax did and saw an assortment of ovens and sinks as well as devices he had no idea the nature of.
Feeling confident he pushed the double hinged doors wide open and marched into the kitchen. He was determined not to botch this, his future depended on having good relations with his boss, maybe even intimidating him a little for a little leeway. Jax felt that he was more than able to do such a thing. While he was nowhere near as big as Darrius, he was tall and muscular in a lean whipcord kind of way that implied great speed and strength. Mix in his short cropped brown hair, cold blue eyes and tattooed frames he cast quite the menacing figure. At least that's what he figured.
However his cowing would have to wait, as he cast his gaze left and right about the large kitchen he couldn't catch site of his future taskmaster. Making his way through the room he took notice of the assorted meats and vegetable products hanging from hooks and was secretly overjoyed by the abundance and variety he found. Pair that with all the fancy equipment and he'd sure he'd be having a swell time soon enough. True it was a little messy, flour and bits of food littered the floor, but he'd been in dirtier places and frankly the smell of something absolutely delightful reminded he hadn't eaten in ages. Finally he had searched the entire area, but no boss. However he had noticed another door at the rear of the room on his first inspection and now he figured it to be some kind of office, maybe who he was looking for was in there.
As he approached the portal he was intrigued by its interesting paintjob, eye paining red slashed with lime green stripes and adorned with some kind of crude skull drawing. Placing his hand on the oversized handle, he experienced a sudden feeling of trepidation, but he quickly squashed and dismissed it as the interview jitters and swung open the door…
And found himself face to face with something big, green and full of teeth.
Jax fell on his ass and let his eyes slowly pan up the impossible monstrosity standing in front of him. Thick bowed legs, clad in loose fitting purple shorts gave way to a ridiculously broad torso contained in a two sizes too tight black tank top. Huge muscular arms, hanging well past the creatures hips in an apelike manner, ended in head sized hands, one of which was currently gripping a giant rolling pin. A bowed neck, slouched forwards in a prime example of bad posture, held a huge head with a jutting distended jaw full of huge, pointy white teeth. Beady red eyes glowered out from below a protruding brow, fixing Jax with a baleful stare. Oh and its skin was dark green.
Jax let all this pour through his mind, and then faster than he thought he was capable of rolled to his feet and sprinted out of the kitchen and into the mess, screaming at the top of his lungs.
"MONSTER! XENO'S ATTACK AHHHH!" his sudden appearance snapped every head in the mess hall towards him, people dropping their cards or drinks and rushing to surround him.
"What is it boy? What's matter?" a big man with a crew cut, garbed in the green of a security team member, grabbed him by the shoulders and tried to get some sense out of him. He was however beyond reasoning and wrestled out of the man's hold sprinting towards the entrance to the mess, all thoughts except those concerning flight stripped from his mind.
Just as he reached the portal for escape, someone stepped in front of his path of travel and dropping him with a clothesline, slamming him to the deck on his back and knocking the wind out of him.
When he finally and painfully opened his eyes he found the upside down and leering face of Crew Chief Hutchinson staring triumphantly back. "What's up numb-nuts?" she sneered.
Jax pulled himself into a sitting position, coughing as he rubbed his neck. "There's a monster in the kitchen." He finally managed in a voice no more than a hoarse croak. "I think it ate the cook." He added.
The crowd that had once again surrounded him broke out in laughter. He looked around in confusion "Didn't you hear what I just said! There's a green thing in the kitchen and it ate the fucking cook! Why is that funny?!" he shouted trying to make sense of the strange turn of events.
Finally Tanya managed to gain control over her laughter. "That is the cook you dumbass!" she looked at his dumbfounded look and added "That's your boss Skrugg!" before cracking up again.
The crowd eventually finished up their fun and returned to what they had been doing before it all began. Jax finally got to his feet and glared at Tanya. "What do you mean that thing is my boss? That's a frakking xeno!"
Tanya looked at Jax like he was sitting in the corner covered in his own drool "Of course he's a xeno idiot! You think people have green skin naturally? Maybe they do in whatever inbred mutation full rat district you come from, but Skrugg is an ork, so shit for brains, yes he's a xeno."
Jax grimaced as he tried to recall what he knew about orks. Yeah that sounded right, big, green, human eater. "But aren't orks like man killers? What the hell is one doing as the cook on an Imperial ship? Humans don't exactly work with xenos. 'Trust not the Xeno.' Haven't you ever been to church?"
Tanya poked Jax in the chest, a feeling he was growing rather accustomed too, "This isn't the Imperium's ship, this is Captain Semptius' ship and Skrugg isn't like other orks. As the First Mate explained it to me he's a "genetic anomaly" one of a kind, doesn't create those damn spores and isn't so violent. Smarter than your average greenskin too. Apparently the Capt'n and Mouton found him on some jungle planet like twenty years ago, he saved them from an ork ambush, and they saved him from the attention of the other orks in return. They do that you know; kill anything that isn't orky 'nough."
Jax thought that was the longest thing she had said to him, at least without insulting him halfway through. "That's all fine and dandy but how did he end up as the frakkin' cook?"
Tanya shrugged "I don't know he just has a feel for it I guess. It's really amazing, you know, he can make like anything you ask for, whether it's slop or pickled grox brain pie, doesn't matter. Damn tasty too…" She trailed off, staring through Jax's head and off into space.
Jax still couldn't get his head around the whole thing. "But he's an Emperor damn xeno!"
This seemed to snap the woman out of whatever fantasy land she had landed in and her eye's slanted in anger. "Yeah that may be true, but he's your damn boss! So yeah he might be an ork, but I still like him better than your little shit for brains mug. So how about you get on your hands and knees and crawl back into the kitchen and beg him for an apology."
Jax snapped "What the fuck is your problem?" he didn't care if she was his superior, years of hard times and harder actions finally overcame his sense of self preservation. "I've only been here for less than four hours and already you're treating me like shit! You don't even know me! How is it my fault that I didn't expect to find a scavving xeno in the sodding kitchen!? It's not and don't you think you can walk all over me just because you're supposedly my throne damned superior!" he was deep in the shit now, but he was beyond caring, his voice had already grown from an angry hiss to a shout.
If the Crew Chiefs face had been angry before she was livid now, but Jax didn't let her get a word in edgewise, letting his voice fall back down to a talking level, icy cold and continuing.
"So you put me in the shittiest cabin, you make fun of me for being new and not knowing the ropes. But when you insult who I am and where I come from I don't care if your ex-Guard or whatever the fuck you claim to be, no one fucks with Jax Bishop like that. I've killed more people than you've shook hands with and I won't think twice about adding another to that list. So shut the fuck up, get out of my way and let me do my work without sticking your frakking nose in it." He finished giving her one final icy stare before turning and heading back towards the kitchen. On his way there he noticed the way the rest of crew members in the mess were staring at him, shocked disbelief plain on their faces. He paid them no mind.
Tanya stood where he had left her, glaring hateful daggers at his back before twirling around and marching back the way she had originally come from.
Kicking open the kitchen doors, Jax entered again, this time stomping his way through the crowded appliances until he came face to face with the green skin monstrosity that had started all of this.
"Oi, wat's dis little 'oomie doin' in me kitchen?" bawled the ork, mashing the rolling pin that he was still clutching against a side of grox that was hanging from a rack. The piece of heavy meat smashed against the wall with the power of the blow, sending bits and pieces of hamburger flying everywhere.
Jax looked up, gulped and held out a hand. "Hey, I'm Jax the new cook's assistant."
The ork looked at Jax, cocking his head to the side as if considering something.
'Probably whether or not to bash my brains out." Jax thought glumly.
They sat like that for a few tense movements, Jax reconsidering the intelligence of his decision and the ork tapping his rolling pin against his meaty shoulder. Finally the ork seemed to come to a decision and took Jax's hand in his own, completely covering it.
"Jax, I'm Skrugg, Skrugg Wurtooth. You ere' to help wid da kitchen?" he asked suspiciously and Jax frantically nodded his head in affirmative.
"DAT'S GREAT!" Skrugg bellowed and released Jax's entrapped hand. "I've bin needin' a propa gretch! Dat last git was too mouthy! We gunna work togetherz on dis…wait you not un' of dos weaky squigs ar ya?"
Jax didn't know what a squig was or half of what the cook was saying but he was most sincere in his answer. "No, no I'm no squig."
Skrugg guffawed, a big deep hearty sound, and clapped the ex-ganger on the back. "HA, we'll see about dis un!" Jax picked himself up from where he had fallen and dusted the flour off his overalls.
"So what do I do?"
Skrugg's gigantic maw crooked itself into what he supposed was a smile and one red eye winked. "O we'ur gonna have sum right fun!"
That scared him more than any amount of roaring the beast could have ever done.
…
Ten hours later a very tired and disheveled Jax lay on his stolen cot, recently retrieved along with a replacement locker from the storerooms down the hall, and tried to sleep. His hands were sore and puffy; thanks to the hundreds of dishes Skrugg had had him washing. When he wasn't scrubbing dirty pots and dishes, the ork tyrant had him running errands down to the storerooms, picking up and moving boxes and all other manner of busy work.
The greenskin seemed to find pleasure in seeing Jax do all the heavy lifting, but fortunately his comments were kept to a minimum as he was mostly occupied with cooking. Jax was thankful of this, he had already lost track of the times he was referred to as, grot, squig, git or some other orkish insult.
He rolled to his side, trying to find a comfortable spot, and draped his hand over his eyes. He'd have to see if he could steal a sleeping bag or something because the bare essentials as they were were just not cutting it. He pulled up his wool blanket to ward against the cold. The ship was in its night cycle and he supposed they shut of the heating to save power. Another thing to add to his list, a couple extra blankets.
A silent influx of cold and a soft creak announced the opening of the door to his cabin. Jax raised himself wearily to a half sitting position, shielding his eyes from the harsh light now emanating from the hallway.
A figure leaned in the open door frame, backlit by the light streaming in. He couldn't make out who it was but when they spoke it made visual confirmation wholly unnecessary.
"We have unfinished business ink blot." Tanya's scornful voice let him know who had come knocking.
'Scav!' Jax cursed and threw his blanket off and rose to his feet. "What are you doing here Tanya, I thought I made myself clear earlier, I'm not going to take you're shit."
The crew chief made her way into his room, arms crossed over her slim chest. Jax shifted uncomfortably in front of her dissecting gaze, suddenly very aware that he was dressed only in briefs and socks. His dozens of tattoos created a web of black on his otherwise pale muscular chest, thick scars marring the design in places. Now it was his turn to cross his arms as he tried again. "Go away; I have to get up at 0530 tomorrow to make breakfast. I don't have time to kick your ass."
With a rush, Tanya closed the distance between the two and Jax instinctively reached to protect his pride. Instead he found himself embraced by her wild charge, spent the next half second teetering on his heels, before falling ungracefully back onto his bunk. In a flash she was on top of him and Jax bucked wildly in an attempt to free himself. The smaller woman, in a surprising feat of strength managed to pin his arms to the bed, straddling his waist between her strong legs.
"Hold still you great lummox I'm trying to kiss you!" Tanya growled and Jax's head snapped up.
"What? What did you s-?" his query was smashed out of existence as his superior mashed her lips against his and his struggling ceased as realized she wasn't attacking him.
Well, not to kill anyways.
With a rush of escaping air she pulled away and Jax found himself staring into a very big pair of undoubtedly feminine brown eyes. "What the hell, I thought you hated me, now you're trying to jump my dick?"
"Oh I still think you're a shit for brains gang banger alright! But I also think you're hot, and that makes me feel the same!" she whispered in a sultry silken purr that he hadn't thought she would be capable of. "Why do you think I put you so far away from the others, if not to keep you all to myself?"
From her position on her waist she made a walking motion with her fingers, running them up his abs and onto his chest. She followed with her tongue, moving in a series of tiny circles, starting around his nipple and moving on to his collarbone before ending finally on his neck. But she didn't stop there, instead digging her teeth into his jugular, eliciting a sharp yelp from the man enslaved below.
"You're fucking insane!" he stammered, trying once again to buck her lithe form off of him, but it was no use she was too deeply entrenched and he barely suppressed as squeak as she dug in further.
"Mmm, crazy? Yeah maybe a little but aren't we all?" her surprisingly soft hand continued its tender ministrations and he was aware of the increasing pressure in his briefs, a pressure that was going to have to be relieved soon or suffer the consequences.
"Well aren't you a lucky boy, seems the equipment is adequate to the task at hand, quite adequate." She teased.
"You're still a bitch." He murmured half heartedly, placing one hand gingerly on his captor's thigh to signal his capitulation.
"Oh I know and after this I'll still be one," Tanya's voice was muffled as she pulled her grey t-shirt up over her head, pulling a black sports bra off with it. "But that doesn't mean we can't play nice." As Jax had suspected she didn't have a very large pair, but she was well defined, abs and arms hard with muscle.
"I guess." He shrugged and brought his hand to her chest, running his thumb around the sensitive skin. She shivered at his touch grabbing his hand and mashing it up against her chest.
"This isn't a romance flick gang rat, fuck me!" she heaved a sigh, clearly not satisfied with his tender approach.
"Yes Ma'am; with pleasure." He snarled, temper frayed, and threw her off him with one powerful thrust of his hips. She landed with a bump and a girlish squeak on the deck below and he was on her in a second, pinning her to the ground with one constricting hand at her neck and the other struggling to remove her pants below. Finally just ripping the belt off from around her slim waist, he yanked the pants down and revealed the skin tight black briefs she wore below. These he removed with as much force, actually managing to rip the fabric as he pulled them down her legs.
"That's more like it!" she laughed as he plowed into her, not even bothering to fully remove his undergarments. "Come on inky show a lady a good time!" her exclamations soon turned to moans and repeated requests for more. "Come on lazy!" even in her constrained position she managed to poke him painfully in the chest, "Light a fire under that ass and get to work, I'm not gonna go easy for the likes of you!"
"Damn, damn, damn!" Jax raged in return, "I have to get up at fucking 0530 tomorrow! Do you know how fucking early that is?"
"Fucking's right." She sniggered and Jax moaned in exasperation.
"Shut up!"
"Shut up Ma'am!"
"GARRRGH!"
…
