Chapter 2: Shaken by the Stirred
"Voss, hold on!"
They had been talking when there was a jolt. A short, sudden, jolt. As if the ship had been halted. The pair had stopped their conversation, listening intently for any disembodied voices or strange sounds. There were none, and Ryyken felt relief. For a second, everything seemed to be alright. Then the ship had begun shuddering, shaking, sending the two men sprawling. Ryyken now clung to a statue of the Holy Emperor, all thought of prayer gone as the ship churned.
"Orders received!" Voss said, clutching to a seat that had been bolted securely onto the corridor's wall. A naval armsman, grey-uniformed and young, was sent stumbling into him and Voss grabbed onto the young man, desperate for any support.
"What in the name of the Emperor is going on? Gellar failure?" Ryyken shouted toward the two, as the shaking abated slightly. Voss released his grip on the armsman, who saluted at the men warily and sped off on some unknown mission.
"No idea. Should we head to the command deck?" Voss asked, and Ryyken considered.
"Admiral Scholtz usually doesn't appreciate unannounced visitors… but I think we deserve to know. Emperor, I just got out of there. This is going to be awkward."
"Ah, Captain Ryyken!"
The armsman by the door to the command deck stopped fiddling with his hellgun as the two men approached, before saluting as he realised who it was. Ryyken returned with the sign of the Aquila.
"I need to speak with the Admiral."
"Apologies, but the Admiral is currently not taking visitors."
Voss piped up. "We just need to know what's happening." And the armsman shrugged.
"Talk to one of the crew. Void, I could probably tell you."
"What's happening, then?" Ryyken asked, stepping forward. The armsman adjusted his grip on his hellgun nervously, looking at the walls.
"Drive failure. Gellar failure. Nearly all our systems are down. The techpriests are overclocked, trying to fix it. Void, even our speaker system is offline. When it's back on, the Admiral will make an announcement."
Voss and Ryyken looked nervously at each other unsteadily, when the armsman spoke up again.
"If I may make a suggestion… I would advise you two to tend to your men. Reassure them."
Ryyken considered rebuking the man for this, but he had a point. He turned, patting Voss on the shoulder.
"Come on. We have a regiment to reassure."
The two men made their way to the residential block where the remnants of the Caracallan 167th were living. Good men and women, all of them. Twenty thousand had departed from the lush, beautiful world of Caracalla. Blue water. White sand. Green, green grass. A paradise, providing food and men for the Imperium. The 167th and the 195th were a token force for the Imperium, their uniforms mostly ceremonial in nature, their lasguns painted to look like the shining scales of the legendary Vharg-hala fish. They were prepared for garrison duty on a conquered world. Maybe for putting down a rebellion, or a small invasion of orks. Instead what they had met was hell. Genestealer cults and Chaos cults, demons and monsters too awful for Ryyken to want to remember. The 167th, Ryyken's unit, had come off lightly. They had been deployed to assist multiple other, more experienced units. That was until the Chaotic forces had ambushed the camp in the dead of night. The 167th had suffered, but the 195th had been practically destroyed. Only around five thousand men remained out of their twenty thousand they had left with. Annja had died. Ryyken still remembered her, however hard he tried to forget.
"Sir?"
The voice of Lieutenant Johan, quavering and thin, brought Ryyken back to the materium.
"Yes, Lieutenant?" Ryyken put on a stable voice. He hoped nobody could see through him.
Johan swallowed. He was young, younger than the other officers by far. Twenty or so, Ryyken estimated. A lot of the men who Johan commanded were older than him.
"What… what should I tell the men? What's happening?"
"The ship's power is malfunctioning. As is our gellar field and engines. The Admiral is making a full announcement as soon as she can. In the meantime, tell everyone to relax. We've come out of the warp, thank the Emperor. We can be grateful for that much."
"Do we know where we are?" Lieutenant Hagar asked. She had been with the regiment nearly as long as Ryyken had, but the horrors of their last campaign had changed her. She was always on edge, ready to pick a fight, her temper frayed.
"As I said, the Admiral will make an announcement as soon as possible." Hagar snorted at that.
"So, you don't know."
"Hagar, you're out of line." Ryyken ordered, and she fell silent. He nodded, and looked around the table. Only 4 of his original Lieutenants remained. The rest were impromptu field promotions, men that Ryyken half-knew. Shellshocked and bruised they all were, regardless. He sighed, looking back down at the table.
"This is all we know so far. Keep your men calm. Tell them that it's being sorted out." He glanced back round at the faces. "Any questions?"
Silence. Until one of the new Lieutenants spoke up. Ryyken couldn't quite recall his name.
"Um, is it?"
"Is it what?"
"Being sorted out?"
Ryyken closed his eyes and sighed.
"Our techpriests are overclocking themselves trying to fix it. Even that biology one. Yes, it's being sorted."
The Lieutenant nodded and remained quiet. Ryyken clapped his hands.
"If that's it, then: dismissed. Stay alert, all of you."
They all filed out, Voss clapping Ryyken on the shoulder on his way out. The two men exchanged nods. But said nothing. There was nothing to say.
Almost seven hours later, the PA system crackled and a robotic voice spoke clearly and slowly.
"Attention. Attention. All personnel, this is a tier V announcement. Attention is required."
Ryyken jumped from his seat and listened intently as Scholtz's voice crackled through the PA.
"Attention, crew of the Princess Cyclone. We have suffered numerous errors from a freak warp incident. We are currently in realspace. Our engines, warp drive, and Gellar field are severely damaged. However, the damage is repairable." She took in a deep breath and Ryyken felt his stomach turn. "However, our current location in realspace is… not listed as part of the Imperium. We are in unexplored space. We are transmitting messages to every nearby planet. It is our hope that we can make contact. That is all."
Ryyken stood in silence. He didn't know if this was good news, or bad.
"Knowing my luck? Bad."