'Thinking'
"Low gothic"
[Machine talk]
"Talking"
Hive world Lepreus
"Firing for effect!" A voice screamed, followed shortly by a piercing whistle of a large rocket soaring through the war torn sky. The rocket was quickly followed by many others, drawing smoke-lines into the air on their way to their target.
A distant hive city that would make mountains look small as it reached upwards into the clouds and seemingly into space. The countless amounts of lights shining from and out of it resembling a glittering oasis in the wastelands surrounding it. A monument to man's achievement, as numerous spires were decorated with various imperial saints and gothic architecture.
The reinforced rockcrete walls surrounding the city were massive, albeit small when compared to the surrounding spires behind it, and the defenders were but miniscule dots at the very top.
However the city had declared who they truly followed, as below and around the defenders, were numerous banners featuring a defaced aquila. If one were to look closer, they would notice the writings decrying the Imperium for being "Oppressors" or "zealous fools of a distant, uncaring vegetable" in local lingo.
Streams of tracer rounds flew from oversized anti-aircraft guns as they tried to shoot down the various aircrafts bombing the city. While guns and artillery on the walls and inside the hive itself, boomed unceasingly, the vibrations shaking the foundations and causing minor hive-quakes in the lower levels, at the imperial attackers storming towards them via a elaborate trench network.
At a predetermined distance to the target, the rockets broke apart into smaller bomblets over the hive forming a numerous carpets of powerful explosions. The skyscraper the first rocket hit timbered as its foundations were destroyed, collapsing towards another much smaller tower and knocking it over like a dominoes. Whole city blocks were glassed and hundreds of soldiers and civilians perished in fire, their bodies either atomized by the intense heat or left as blackened husks strewn wildly around numerous craters.
With the salvo finally completed, the Lord general gave his review as he looked away from the holographic command table, "You missed! I said hit the walls, not the hive! How are my men supposed to get in if there is a frakking wall in the way?"
The artillery commander, recently promoted and new, stood up straight and fully aware of the Lord Generals displeasure. The man replied quickly with a heavy stammer of embarrassment. "S-s-sorry, m-my Lord, I'll see to it that the next volley be straight and true."
"Don't bother, the other siege batteries would do it." The Lord General responded, giving a motion to a nearby voxman. Said man nodded before speaking into his vox with a series of codes.
A series of loud booms rattled the lord general's ears and shook the ground. Seconds later, the walls began to explode. Whole sections of rockcrete caved in, spilling men, artillery and even a few vehicles many kilometers down to earth. Eventually, breaches were made, as a streams of guardsmen rushed inwards into the hive on fire.
Nodding at the display, The Lord General turned around leaving the tent and walked to his personal Chimera. The rear door opened, and there was someone waiting inside. He was tall, he was annoyed, and he was incredibly h̶a̶n̶d̶s̶o̶m̶e̶ familiar.
"Finally decided to show yourself." Another version of Lord General Alston, much older looking and with an more authoritative air to him, greeted smugly with a smile. "By the emperor, you have no idea how long I had to wait for you to finally sleep."
"Wha—"
"Shush, I'm talking here and time is of the essence. Now let's go somewhere more… "civilized" and away from this memory for this conversation, shall we?" He snapped his fingers and Alston's vision went blank.
Normandy SR-2
Medical Bay
He felt incredibly sore all over, yet slightly rejuvenated somehow. He was laying on a sort of bed and he could feel that tightness, which was the armor Shepard gave or rather forced him to wear.
The Lord General opened his eyes, the bright light burned, with his vision being blurred but clearing quickly. However when he managed to clear his eyes enough, he noticed a metal ceiling and looked up from his current position, pausing midway when he heard the Magos.
"Prevention instead of reaction. To prevent the Lord General from being hospitalized a second time by poison, his digestive organs must be replaced with more "efficient" replacements"
He shook his head a bit, confusion ringing in his head, before he stopped as he came to realize what the Magos was insinuating.
"Isn't what your doing an overreaction? Yes, he was poisoned. Yes, I pumped his stomach, gave him some medi gel for the bleeding and the drugs that Private gave him were effective at stopping it, But it doesn't give you the justification to conduct emergency without his express consent." A female voice argued, one laced with shock. The screeching of a buzzsaw nearing his face made Alston feel mighty uncomfortable.
He laid there, trying desperately to lean into the bed or not breathe as the saw was mere inches away from him, his eyes wide open with surprise.
"Ah, you're awake, Alston, now hold still—"
"Turn off the saw!" He screamed in a hoarse voice, leaning as far into his bedding as he could. The saw shut off as quickly as it turned on and retreated back into Nokia's robes. He breathed a sigh of relief.
Chakwas was startled at his words, or rather the fact that he could actually speak. She voiced as such. The Magos simply stared at Alston's throat for a moment, his omnispex scanning and alerting him that his friend's throat was indeed fully healed. Why it was, he could not say but he was aware that only Space Marines can regenerate this fast.
Alston was just a normal, Imperial human… as far as Francis knew.
"This is Intriguing. Your medi-gel is truly remarkable." The Magos praised with his guess.
Chakwas was unsure. "But I only applied a thin coat, lest I clog his airway. It shouldn't have healed tha—"
"What the hell were you gonna do with that saw? Where am I?" The impatient patient demanded as he looked at the Magos, swinging himself off the bed and almost fell before righting himself with a hand on the edge.
"Simple, to perform replacement surgery on you so you would not succumb to poison again. And you are in the Normandy's medbay."
"Replacement surgery?"
"Yes, I would like to know why you tried to cut open my patient and where would these "replacements" be? I don't see you carryin—" Chakwas said, giving a stern look at the Magos alongside the Lord General, before she stared at what the Magos brought out from within his robes.
In the man's mechanical hand… was an metal box, engraved with the symbol of the Magos' forgeworld, four horseshoe magnets arranged in a plus sign, the top one having a the Mechanicus skull and cog between its arms. He opened it and pulled out a mechanical liver. "This, among your other digestive organs."
"Frak this shit, I'm out!" The Lord General all but ran out the door leading to the rest of the ship. Walking past the Magos, who was still holding onto the liver and with a somewhat joyous look, and giving Chakwas a courteous thanks and a word of advice, "Don't bother asking him where he got the box; I don't even think he himself knows."
Chakwas, who was even more confused than disturbed at the Magos' supposed magic trick, but took Alston's word for it and nodded dumbly as the man quickly left the room.
"Lord General, you're alright?" The voice of Private chirped up with surprise and glee, before the sound of a hand hitting metal was heard and a female shout of pain.
"Dammit, Yeoman. What in the Emperor's balls did I do to you I just woke up and why did you slap the metal side?" Alston yelled.
Normandy SR-2
Medical Bay
Twenty mins later….
"I thought you were kidding when you said you wanted to operate on him." Shepard glared judgingly at the metal man. "Then I find your 'patient' demanding access to the armory so he could 'proceed to shoot some sense into you'. And after hearing what Chakwas had to say, I'm inclined to let him."
Shepard was glad that Chakwas was not here, she was currently helping Kelly deal with a injured hand.
" 'Fool him twice, shame on him'." Quoted the defendant.
"I'll take the chances," the plaintiff declared as he sat on the opposite side of the Magos, still in his tight cerberus armor. "Especially from what I know of Ad Mech medical practices, the only way your cutting into me is if I'm dead or dying."
"Which you were."
"Not what the medicae said; don't lie to me, I heard her. I'd rather trust someone whose job is to keep me alive."
"Do you even have a license?" Shepard asked Francis, cutting into the growing argument.
"Yes. It is called 'Magos'."
Cassidy looked unamused at the answer. She turned to Alston for an explanation, expecting the Magos to be making stuff up. "Is that true?"
Alston gave a tentative shrug, "Magos Nokia is somewhat correct, He should be a Magos Errant if I remember correctly. So he tends to dabble in many fields, though I suspect he's less studied in medicine and more so in… live dissection." The last two words were a growled out as he looked none-too-happy at his friend.
"Vivisection, my dear Alston." Francis corrected happily.
"That does not make me feel better, neither does that reference."
"Either way!" Shepard butted in yet again, "You can't just spontaneously operate on people without their consent or need. That's unethical, tru—" She was interrupted by booming laughter from her audience. Mainly from Alston who started struggling to breathe in his chair, while Francis stood still and just chuckled in a rhythmic beat like a out of tune beatboxer.
"What are you two laughing about?"
" 'Ethics'!" Alston and Francis answered, the former wheezing.
Francis ceased in his chuckling as he looked at Shepard, who was getting visibly annoyed and baffled at what they just said, "It is crucial that high value individuals of the Imperium are in service for as long as possible. If bionics, our word for cybernetics, need to be implanted into them to ensure this, then so be it. That is why I am as you see me, in addition to being closer to the Omnissiah's image."
Shepard had only one thing to say. "Can you at least explain where did the organs come from? I'm positive that you weren't carrying a box like that back on Omega," She gestured at the ornate box sitting at a nearby desk.
"I hid it in the medbay when when we first got onboard."
Even though Nokia's poker face was on par with the volus' and quarians', Cassidy nodded. It sounded somewhat plausible.
If this ship had not an AI, which was aware of all that happened "inside her", so to speak.
She'll ask EDI later is to confirm.
Normandy SR-2
Port Observation
"Care to explain what happened while I was under?" Alston asked Francis as they walked towards their quarters. Both of them having been sent off by Shepard after their talk. "Cause I was pretty sure that I had more points being used then what I have right now, I remember having about three hundred and ninety-four, and now it's down to three hundred and forty four."
"A squad of ratlings ate a missile and was promptly incinerated into a fiery demise while assisting me.
"Was it your fault?" He quirked his head.
"No, Shepard shoved aside a missile launcher that was in her face," Francis debriefed.
"That's actually kinda badass." Alston admitted.
"Indeed." The Magos agreed as they both stopped in front of the door.
"I am still quite pissed at—fuck!" Alston yelled as he hopped back from the door as it opened. Outwardly, Francis wasn't fazed. Inwardly, he squeaked in fright.
The blindfolded face of Astropath Ezek was at the door. So close was the Astropath that he would be mere inches away from Alston's face, if he wasn't a head shorter. The old man gave a short bow as he took a step back, leaning on his metal staff.
"My Lord General, I see that you have recovered from your injuries and are well."
"Yes, yes. I am well but can you tell me how you knew I was—"
"Coming? I am a psyker. I can sense every soul in this tiny transport, I would however be more familiar with yours." Ezek answered back, as he made way for the both of them to enter.
Both of them entered the room, seeing that it was still just as they left it. With Private laying down on a nearby bedroll for a nap. The two Skitarii, Alfa and Ranger, who were staring out the window had turned towards the Magos in unison.
Fives, the Lord General's servo skull, flew out of Alfa's robe and hovered next to the man.
Ezek pulled out a piece of parchment from within his blue robes and held it out for the Lord General.
"I have received and written out an astropathic message from Planetary Governor Nes, it was marked rather urgent and for both of your attentions," his throat carrying the words with a somber, tired tone. "He has also asked that he receive a response at your earliest convenience."
While Alston took the note, Francis was confused by the implications of Ezek's words. "So soon? It normally takes weeks or months to message through the warp."
"That is correct. But I feel the Immaterium not as a raging storm, but a stagnant pond that has not been disturbed for a long time. And a pristine one, as I have not come across any warp creatures so far, but I know better than to let my guard down."
Francis pondered this. It would make sense that the warp would be calm or somewhat non-existent, for the warp was never supposed to exist here in first place. Plus, the lack of any warp capable species would extinguish the chances of it existing, due to the need of emotions to sustain it.
But these are different times. Theories and possibilities about the involvement of using psykers in this universe began to circulate in Francis' head. Whether they would risk creating the gods of Chaos due to their involveme—
"Snap out of it, You should give this a read." Alston thrusted the paper in his face, startling his friend back to the present.
He bookmarked this train of thought for later, perhaps he should include Alston in this ride? The man was more well-versed in warhammer lore than him.
He took hold of it in his artificial hands. One of his optics zoomed in, and he perused the parchment.
It was written in ornate calligraphy. The edges of the parchment were detailed with tiny prayers and symbols, which only served to enhance the words. If he did not know that the Astropath had written this out himself, he would've assumed a machine did it.
However the beauty of it did not match the message's contents, which if shortened to its most basic form and removed of filler, was a simple request for permission to expand past the planet and to colonize the remainder of the system.
Why a colony of less than 100 souls would require the need to expand to the solar system would need some answering.
"Why would so few men undertake such a gargantuan task?" Was his paraphrase.
"I do not know," Ezek replied, "May I speak freely?"
"Granted." Alston allowed.
"Perhaps it may be planning for the future? The Adeptus Administratum is known to plan by the centuries, if not millenia," Ezek suggested. "It would also not be out of place for Planetary Governors to do the same."
"He does have a valid point, Francis. I see no harm in granting it." Alston said, throwing his decision in.
"It's only been two days, eighteen hours, forty-six minutes, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five seconds since we last spoke to them on the colony. How can one-hundred souls settle the entire planet?"
"I do not know, Magos." Ezek answered. "I merely read and translate the messages I receive from my fellow Astropaths."
"Ask of their current status on the planet. More specifically, their population, thei—"
"I see no need to do that, It would make little to no difference if we waited or not. Ezek, tell the Governor that he has my permission to do whatever is required. Not sure about the Magos' side, though." Alston countered. "Besides how are they even gonna get off the planet in the first place? With wooden spaceships and helium balloons?"
"Belay that. That is why I'm asking for their status. You and I have left them with nothing but a few squads of Guardsmen, a taurox and a fireteam of Skitarii. And here they are, asking us to go and spread their reach throughout the system. You can see why I'm concerned."
"You say that as if it's a bad thing? You do know that we are suppose—" Ezek cut Alston off as he murmured something in a wispy tone.
"Someone approaches, she seeks you and the Magos, my Lord. She bears news and feels… annoyance."
Just as Alston was about to ask who, the doors flew open, Shepard walked through and looked at the both of them. "Magos, Lord General. The Illusive man wants to talk to us, mainly you. Now."
Both of them followed. Francis knew better than to annoy Shepard. Alston just before he left the room gave a hand gesture that translated to, "Send my message, now." before hurrying along.
Ezek nodded and pulled out a quill and parchment, nestling himself on a nearby sofa, and started to write very slowly and carefully.
Normandy SV-2
Communications Room
"Alright, I'm gonna have to give you two some advice about the Illusive man." Shepard began as the elevator doors closed behind them. "Don't trust the man. He knows how to convince you to see his ways."
"Guy can't be that bad," Alston whispered to the Francis, in High Gothic. "Seems kinda counter-productive to be working for someone you hate."
"Hard to turn away from the person that A) Resurrected you. And B) Is the only person doing something about a large scale crisis." Francis chirped back at him via vox, making sure to disable his speakers for this. Alstons bionic implant apparently has a built-in vox, which Kelly's slap had turned on by accident, to the Lord General's surprise and displeasure. He did not know he had something like that.
"How in the warp did you do the parentheses?" Alston asked back.
"What was that?" Shepard asked
"He was wondering if it was bad to insult your boss." Francis translated.
"He's not. More an ally who's also an extremist, xenophobe and megalomaniac. Basically you." She pointed at Francis.
"Wait till she sees the Adeptus Ministorum… then she'll see a true xenophobe." Alston said, giving a small chuckle, as both of them approached the doors to the communications room.
"How cute," the Magos abridged, as they stepped into the room. "We have worse.".
"How much worse?"
"So bad we had to make them a part of the government and state religion." Alston muttered, watching as the table slid into the floor and a column of orange light appeared before them.
"Time to meet the man himself," Francis said as he stepped into the light, followed shortly by Shepard and Alston.
Upon stepping through into the column. Shephard, Francis and Alston were greeted to the hologram of a man sitting upon a chair, a giant star behind him and and a lit cigarette between his fingers. Steel blue eyes that glowed with their own light appraised the two leaders of the Imperium with faint intrigue.
The two friends only had one thing to say about this: "Dramatic, much?"
AN: Took us long enough to get here. It's been what, three months?
CoAN: Do-overs and procrastination, YEEHAW!
AN: Procrastination is his word for: Getting mauled by his cat and not wanting to write. Anyways we have finally finished a short chapter after a rough time at 1)jobs. 2)Physical injuries from said jobs and in the CoAN case 2.1)Emotional trauma.
CoAN: 2.1 is a lie
AN: Anyways let's get to review time. Speaking of reviews, Guests, please make a account so that it's easier for us to type our responses. It gets awkward when we answer Guest A's question but we meant to answer Guest B's or Guest C's.
Artyom-Dreizehn: Thanks for the review, what we did that chapter was intentional and we hope it will have a affect later on.
Seabo: To be honest we rolled for the name and we got Private. So in other words, we rolled Private Private and thus he was born a mangled mess.
Spartan-A312: No need to wait… Look, it's a chapter!
Grudgematch, Emperor Palps, Guest, timgr: Thanks for the reviews and hope you continue reading.