While the rest of the troops were congregating, Elban walked slowly through the twisting crate jungle near the back of the ship's cargo hold. Everyone was clustered near the front since it was closer to the utilities. That meant that the back of the ship was relatively untouched and devoid of life.
The lights overhead flickered and the 3-men-tall boxes cast the entire area into shadow. The environment matched Elban's feelings. Ever since his demotion he had been stuck in the stormy seas of depression.
It didn't help that Sargos remained firmly stuck in his mind. He was originally from Sargos II; the agricultural planet, and its trees and soft waving crops tortured his mind as he remembered his home town. All of it was gone; vaporized and incinerating into nothingness, he reminded himself and slipped his hands deeper into his pockets, his frown growing.
He was diverted from his sulking by a curious sound. It was almost… almost a cry, or a scream. Like some small child wailing. Impossible. There are no children on this ship. Menon and Seymor are the youngest but they are not even that young and sound nothing like…The sound ripped through his mind again.
For some reason, he could tell that the sound wasn't even that loud, just pervasive somehow. He looked around for the source amid the flickering lights, but could spy nothing. An involuntary shiver ran through him as the shadows danced. Left with no opportunity, and somehow transfixed by the sound, he followed it, seeking its origin.
His eyes spied a light coming from a crate room like his own. There were tossed aside personal effects lying near the entrance he saw as he approached. He brushed away the tattered black cloth serving as the door and entered. A smell hit his nose as he entered, but he could not tell quite what it was. Whatever it is, its rank.
He edged closer to the light, creeping silently now. He saw a figure silhouetted by the lamp, it seemed to be a small boy grasping his head violently. As Elban crept closer, his boot squealed on the metal.
All at once there was the sound of ringing metal. Elban realized that the light had apparently tricked his eyes. Kane spun around holding something metal which he slipped into his sleeve quickly. A spoon?
"Who? You… what the frak are you doing here?" He asked, rising as he did so, his anger rippling across his scarred face as shadows dripped along his eyes and mouth.
Elban startled. "I uh"…"I thought I heard a… something crying" he stammered. Trying to divert the question by asking his own, he countered, "What were you doing and why are you so far away from everyone else?"
Elban felt a strong disorienting sensation, as if something were being squeezed into a bottle. Kane's face softened but not by much.
"I was just eating dinner" He lied, gesturing to the plate of half eaten food and waving the spoon in Elban's face. "And as for why I am here? None of your fraking business! And for that matter, get the frak out of my quarters!"
Elban, still too confused to reply did just that and got the frak out of Kane's quarters, trying to comprehend what had just happened. He shivered as he left. The life support must be ancient if its failing like this…on and off. Maybe I should tell Stevan about it…No, he has enough to worry about without having to come all the way out here for one malfunctioning life support unit.
Elban walked back into the maze of boxes and crate, and Kane returned to his…whatever it was that Kane did with his spare time.
Elban's sulking and Kane's mysterious activities aside, everyone else worked and drilled as normal. Stevan and Arnon announced that they had made a "major break through with the thrice accursed equipment" The officers realized that they must have gotten the AI back online. Most didn't seem to care very much but Saide congratulated them on their dedication.
Another three days later, Don was found by Saide in dire need of water in his quarters, half asleep. Interestingly enough, when Don had described what had happened, and Arnon examined the door, he found that it had been apparently unlocked from both the inside and outside.
Following his release, Don got to be known by the troops and even better by the officers, who used him and Virgil to bounce ideas off of during meetings. Saide noticed that Don was a bit more withdrawn and haggard, but chalked that up to battle weariness.
And so life fell into formula; the novelty of the situation succumbing to the drudge of the every day schedule. Another week passed with little change, excepting Stevan and Arnon's progress.
Aboard the Omnis Arcanium, preparations were being made for Jada and Anath's departure. Since their mission required them to travel in secret, they had to make use f a smaller ship. However, even if their departure wasn't secret, their business was; Vidya made sure of that.
The two boarded and assumed command of a vanguard cruiser by the name of Divine Retribution with an unheard of detachment of two squads of the vaunted 1st company terminators along with two other squads of veterans, all of whose renowned skills were required on this secret mission. Jada and Anath's orders superseded even 1st companies; their task ordered from Vidya himself.
Their craft dropped from the armada and jumped into the warp, leaving Vidya to his contemplations. He stared out of the view port, lost in thought, but not so ensconced that he didn't hear and feel the librarian coming silently into his chambers.
"Sir…" The man started.
"No" Responded Vidya quietly. "I recognize this risk for what it is. The ebb and flow of fate is rarely easy to detect, even for me." He turned around to face the librarian. "I made my decision, although I understand your concern. You would champion Jada above Anath, this is easy to see, as are its reasons. Jada is the best of us all; he has shown courage in extraordinary situations and has never failed his squad once in battle. However, Anath is needed to…even the fate if you will."
"With all due respect sir; are you suggesting that…"
"Jada is untrustworthy? Not at all. In fact he is too trustworthy, if that can be a fault. His mindset and actions are sure and are a paragon of everything a space marine should be. However, this makes him predictable." He slammed his hand on the back of his throne, causing even the floor to tremble.
"You must understand. This is a game in which predictability is a curse, whatever form it takes. Anath upsets this predictability. Although he appears to be less…perfect… than Jada, he has shown unsurpassed tactical brilliance, and the ability and intellect to surpass preoccupation with honor. He has shown that he can change fate. There are those who flow along within the stream of time, tossed from side to side by the fluctuations of the universe and there are those who are lynchpins, rocks in that stream, around which the water is disturbed."
Vidya paused and studied the librarian before continuing.
"It is this disturbance that will ensure a beneficial outcome in the future…if you understand me…"
"I see only your actions. What you speak of is hidden to me. I speak from my abilities and my observations only, you understand. From what I can see, you…favor Anath. And it has something to do with his actions on Tremorkor and the rescue of the chapter artifactician."
"…you always had the ability to cut through things…that is your gift. Yes, Tremorkor was one of those moments when fate was…diverted if you will. The stream perturbed. He had a choice, as I learned from talking to him on the subject after the event. The artifact…a sword I believe… and its housing were under threat by the Orks, who has laid waste to Tremorkor.
He and his team were under threat from all sides and time was slipping its noose over his neck. He could only fit one of the items on the ship he had been given, either the artifact and its case, a massive shielded pillar, or the artifactician and his crew."
"He left the artifact" The librarian said with disgust. "No worse; he destroyed it with his own hands."
"To ensure it could not fall to the Orks."
"A timeless relic, surrendered to the void, for some...man"
Vidya turned again, sharply, his eyes flashing.
"You speak of a fellow battle brother!" Vidya cautioned. "Such thinking is inexcusable and may I remind you that the same artifactician detected the gene seed; the holiest of all relics."
The librarian made to speak but Vidya silenced him with a wave of his hand.
"I appreciate your cognitive abilities but you must remember that you hold no special rank. You are here and able to speak with me through whim and my whim alone…Think about your words librarian. You may leave"
The space marine looked at Vidya for half a second before slowly turning and leaving the room.
Finally after two months of drifting, Arnon and Stevan were able to fix the warp engine. This news was instantly known to the entire ship, as Arnon came out shouting "The fraking devil machine works! We did it!" at the top of his augmented lungs. Stevan came out a moment later to confirm, yes, the drive was working.
The jubilation was palpable. After two months of Creed's drilling, everyone was only too glad for a disruption. Don and Saide gave the word and within seconds, the ship tore into the warp.
Everyone was on edge, but Saide already had a plan formulated. He and Greynor had been able to contact some of Greynor's "friends" under a false name. It turns out that a trader license would be required. Therefore, Saide and Voor would attempt to obtain the license the proper way, through the miles of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the imperium for tax resources.
In case this plan met resistance (which it would), Greynor and his pals were to obtain a license through…less legitimate means. Meanwhile, everyone else would be allowed shore leave, at least for the duration of the stay.
The days spent in warp seemed to melt by, one after another in quick succession and before Creed could drill everyone to death, they had arrived at starport 1019, a refueling and ship construction port that was, quite literally, in the middle of nowhere; they were still in the outer reaches of the galaxy.
Amidst the bustle of space traffic, Saide saw the multi-chromatic ebb of the warp give way to the usual black of space. Before Saide floated a massive superstation, a veritable planetoid surrounded with over ten thousand other craft. It served as the refueling and ship building and maintenance depot for the quadrant, and since there was not much out there, it was the only one besides the now annihilated one that orbited the Sargos system.
In addition, because of the lack of other ports or inhabited planets, it also served as the imperial strong point, enforcing the will of the emperor even in this backwater.
Since no one else knew how to dock a ship, Zell took over with fine steering. As the barge got closer to the wall of steel that was the side of the station, they found themselves hailed by the station master.
"Unknown ship, please relay identification information at this time", the bureaucrat droned with all the excitement of a guardsman being told that they were scheduled for latrine duty for the fifth time that week.
"Crap," Zell waived Don over." What is the identification number of this ship?" He asked frantically.
"Do we even have one?" the command officers hysterically threw around papers and searched the computer on the bridge looking for anything resembling a number.
"There nothing here!" Caff growled angrily.
"Unknown ship. I am awaiting a response. Further failure to follow protocol will result in…questioning" The voice had taken on an evil glee to it. …bastard is like a little runt who gets picked on at school and is taking his frustration out on ants with a magnifying glass. This is probably the only excitement he's seen in ages.
"Frak it!" Saide cursed. "I wanted to keep a low profile! Zell…" he turned to the man and gesticulated wildly, "what do we do? We don't have the ID for this ship; what do we do? I'm a fraking ground trooper, I don't know about this stuff!" He repeated.
"Gah!" Zell exclaimed as he was verbally beset upon. "It's probably illegal; it wouldn't have one then; it would also explain the deviation from standard building protocol. Erk!" he saw the starport signal again.
Before the other man could deviously set upon their ship with police craft, Zell snatched the com, sweat now running down his neck. "Ship identification number is 2-18-9-2-5, special procedure protocol 500. Zell waited, "Common, work damn it" He said under his breath.
"Oh, sorry, I believe you meant special procedure protocol 1000; did you not?" There was a threatening air around the other man's voice.
"Ah yes, but of course! Special procedure protocol is of course a private ship" He answered, drawing out the word "private".
"Heard loud and clear; report to…" and then listed off a set of instruction on where to dock. "Just follow the blue lights in and report to the coms center to receive your…private tour." The voice said, noticeably more cheerful than before.
"What was that?" Saide asked. "Where did you find the number?"
Zell started to laugh, as did Greynor.
"Zell didn't give them a number; he bribed the sucker" Greynor laughed.
"Sorry guys, we're out 1000 credits; it was the only thing I could think of."
"I guess it could have gone down worse" Saide said as the ship docked with the mammoth station.
"If we don't pay that guy though, he'll make our lives a living nightmare." Greynor warned.
"Agreed" Saide said, "We don't need any more trouble. Just pay the guy and get this trouble over with."
"Yes, sir. I will take care of it." Zell responded.
Saide breathed a sigh of relief as he looked around at the people ringing him and Zell. "Ok, 1st through 5th squads are free to go. Voor, with me. Greynor, find Kane and do what you got to do."
The various commanders exited the bridge to muster the troops for leave.
"Don, what are you going to do? You staying here, or do you want to leave?" Saide asked once everyone else had left.
"Saide" Don said gruffly. "I was trapped in my room for three days and on this ship for two months. No force in the world will keep me on this ship."
Saide laughed. "I'll meet up with you after we get the license." He turned to Zell, who he realized was still there awaiting more detailed instruction.
"You done with the docking stuff?" Saide questioned Zell who was flipping switches and running from station to station.
"yeah, I got everything covered here. I'm shutting off the engines since we're docked now…wait…the damn thing did it by itself. This AI module is either the best thing invented, or the most annoying.
Saide explained in detail what he wanted Zell to do and how to negotiate with the station master, that is to say, not at all. "Don't draw any attention to yourself. Overpay the guy if you have to; just keep his mouth shut. We've most likely got over two thousand illegal or stolen items in our hold, on board an illegal, non-standard ship, that is piloted with an alien heretical AI module…We don't want any loose eyes looking our way.
"yessir" Zell saluted, and went off to join 1st squad for muster.
In the cargo hold, the troops were already changed into civilian garb (one of the many, many, many things onboard the ship)
"…and remember, if any of you maggots makes trouble for us, he'll be doing laps around the station, not just the ship" Saide heard Creed yell as they exited along the boarding connector. Saide caught his eye and couldn't help cracking a smile. The station was the size of a very small moon. Gods, let's hope no one makes trouble. We'll never see the poor bastard ever again.
Creed saluted. "I'll keep these recruits from destroying anything while you're gone" Creed boomed as Saide followed the other troop off the ship.