Lunar light covered the top landing of the stairs, hanging high in the clear night. The Imperial night watch was in the middle of their second shift, an empty bottle of medicine sat the end of the railing with a single guardsman at the top, the banner of the Imperial Aquilla behind him. Defensive emplacements and pre-ranged mortars slept behind him, their crews were nearby asleep under tents and on bedrolls enhanced with the limited softness of tissues. A single Salamander Scout rolled up and disgorged a group of guardsmen of the Cadian 231st. Clutching their camo cloaks and grappling hooks, they called command .
"Command, this is Dagger 1, we're in position and awaiting link up."
"Copy Dagger, the Astartes should be with you shortly. Remember, your mission is simply to scout and to survey the interior of the garage. Sir Maximas informed us that's where spare tools and resources are typically found. If we can mark out the most valuable items, we might be able to claim them in the future without conflict before the Xenos can."
"Copy all Command, think the Astartes are arriving. Dagger 1 out, Emperor Protects."
"Emperor Protects Dagger 1."
Five horses galloped up to the recon team, each one carrying a scout marine of the Conservators in their signature master-crafted plate armor and boltbows. The guardsmen dropped to a knee in awe and reverence before the scout sergeant relieved them, still unused to the typical reverence that most Astartes got just for being in the same ZIP code as a guardsman. Now with the recon force at 10 men, they all checked their gear once more time and examined the stairs.
"Guardsmen, are you ready?" the sergeant adjusted his cloak as another guardsman on night duty took them away to be hitched up to an upside down mug that acted as another guard post..
"Affirmative sir. Waiting on your mark."
"Good. Getting down should be quick but getting back up will be tricky. Intel suggests that the Eldar have made their home along the upper walls of the entryway and main corridor. Stick close to the walls, we don't know what kind of detection they are using. Ready? Lets move."
With that, the recon team began their mission. With the help of their enhanced biology, the scout marines had no trouble simply leaping down from stair to stair. The Cadians on the other hand had to use a bit more finesse to work their way down, hanging off ledges and dropping down carefully while laying down their ropes for when they came back up. Finally, after braving the long flight of stairs, the team was finally at the bottom. With a hand gesture from the scout sergeant, everyone pulled up their camo cloaks and hugged the wall. Above the, a growing Eldar web covered the ceiling in a multi-leveled network of bridges, platforms, walkways and outcroppings. The long strands of festive lights made it seem like a sky of stars from the ground. Some of the guardsmen looked up in amazement. For all their lives they were told to despise the Xenos, but surely they didn't have to despise what they could make right?
A gentle tapping of the foot from the scout sergeant brought everyone back into focus along with a thumb pointed towards the laundry rom door. They could take pictures when they weren't on a mission. Huddled under their cloaks, the recon team formed a line, shuffling their way around the corner. The next bit could easily be the most dangerous part of the entire mission. The team would need to run across open ground and then run along a perpendicular wall into the laundry room where the garage entrance would be.
"Command, this is Sabre Actual. We're at the base of the stairs and preparing to cross the pass. Requesting Ordinance Drop Beta-4." the scout sergeant reported back to Imperial HQ.
"Copy Sabre, deploying Beta-4, be prepared to move."
A messenger bolted out of the large "Classic Mix Party Chips" box that had a yellow Post-It "CentComm" stuck just above the entrance. Jumping into an already warm Salamander Scout, they sped off across the hard floor and drove hard towards the Recroom Heights, driving over a mess of unconnected and unorganized cables. Tech priests were still trying to figure out a way to set up secure communications. A marine was waiting for them as they sped towards the base of the fortress monastery. A series of flashing lights later, the Salamander joined a small herd of other vehicles connected by ropes. Tying one rope to the back end of itself, the procession waited for the signal to proceed.
=][= | =][= | =][= | =][= | =][=
"Of fuck was that?" Max's brain struggled to string a functional sentence together as he woke up from his sleep. Looking at his phone and pulling his earbuds out, he saw it was still that golden period of time he referred to as "the ass crack of dawn o'clock". AKA "too damn dark for anything to be happening". Something in the hall fell and hit the ground hard and Max felt compelled to check it out in case someone died or something exploded. Armed with his phone's flashlight and his best pair of bunny slippers, he opened the door and peeked into the hallway. Turning on the lights, he saw a small group of Imperial vehicles surrounding a leaking can of soup.
"Sir Maximas!" one of the officers shouted from his Chimera's opening, "We're terribly sorry to awake you. We were just-"
"Don't want to hear it." Max sleepily muttered as he went back into his room towards the bathroom, "I'll get some paper towels to clean it up. Make sure nothing else falls over eh?"
=][= | =][= | =][= | =][= | =][=
The recon team could hear Max's heavy footsteps and voice above them along with all of the other commotion. Through their scopes and view-finders, the team could see the Eldar moving about in their sky city, clearly distracted by the sudden Beta-4 Soup Drop and ensuing intervention from Max. With their path clear, the sergeant urged everyone forward with hand gestures. One by one, they all made a dead sprint towards the laundry room wall. At the very end of the line though, Dagger 5 thought he saw something in the shadow, a shifting... something that came from the direction of the living room.
"Psst!" Dagger 4 hissed through her teeth to get her trailing comrade back on task. Ignoring the shadows, Dagger 5 regrouped with the rest of the team. The noise of the Beta-4 was winding down, it seems like Max had finished cleaning and was returning to bed.
"Sabre, this is Command, Beta-4 has been completed, what's your time table?"
"Command, Sabre and Dagger have just made it past the Eldar Hall, breaching into the Laundry Chamber now."
There was a slight crack in the door to the laundry room that Max had left earlier that day. A pair of Space Wolves identified it when they tried to make their way back to base from another "scouting mission". The guardsmen formed a defensive ring, lascarbines raised, as the scout marines tried to crack the door open some more. On such a small scale, the towering wooden door required a great deal of strength just to open.
"Think I see something moving." Dagger 5 exhaled as he tried to track a glimmer in the moonlight, "Something's out there watching us, I can feel it."
"Shut it guardsman, we don't need to be jumping at shadows here." Dagger 1 snapped as quietly as he could at the rookie.
"No, I feel it too. We aren't alone." Dagger 3 stood up and slowly walked back towards the marines.
"Dammit people, we don't need a repeat of Lemarr City." Dagger 1 growled but continued to close the ring with the others.
A sudden creek from the door froze everyone in place as all their hearts skipped a beat. The scout marines furthest from the door drew their blades and bows also taking aim at the shadows. Auspex readings from one of them came up empty. Without a word, everyone began to pile into the dark laundry room, guns still pointed into the hallway. The teal tiled floor greeted them, as did the massive counters and the towering machines stacked on top of each other. The air smelled of chemicals but of the flowery and soft kind instead of the harsh, industrial type the guardsmen were used to in hive cities. One wall was filled with huge brooms, cleaning equipment and a large flat boat strung up on a hook. The trailing scout marine pulled the door in to close it slightly, still leaving enough space to push it out on their way out.
"Marines, I want ye to go and find us an entrance into the 'garage chamber' along this wall. That metal door is sealed shut and we can't blow it. Guardsmen, standpoint and keep ye nerves about." the sergeant split up his team as they activated their tac lights.
As the marines scoured the wall, shuffling into corners and crevices, the guardsmen took up a firing line and kneeled, spaced out from one another. Their breathing was heavy as their eyes struggled in the darkness. None of the regiments had any dedicated night vision with them, at least none the tech priests were willing to allow. While every Cadian was trained for battle, their training typically didn't include covert scouting missions, at least not for most soldiers.
"Sarge, I found an entrance!" one of the scout marines waved from behind one of the towering machines. Some large, soft, metallic tube was coming out of one of them and went through the wall. And there was just enough room between the tube and the hole in the wall. One by one, each of them flattened themselves against the narrow space between the machines and the walls. Careful not to grate their face or equipment against the metal, their chests just barely had enough space to expand for breath. Forcing themselves up to the hole by pushing their backs against the wall using their legs on the machine, the slim sliver of space could barely fit them.
"Wait." Dagger 5 paused at the end of the line as Dagger 1 was climbing over the edge, "Did anyone else see the door open more?"
For a few tense seconds, only the steady metronome of a leaking faucet, dripping its droplets of water onto a tub sink made any sound. The moonlight faded as the clouds above sunk the room into an even deeper shadow. There wasn't any room to pull out guns or even fight. Still, hands found themselves wrapped around knives.
"You need to lay off the recaff mate." Dagger 4 kicked the jumpy soldier in the ankle, "I think the stuff Maximas gives us is stronger than what we're used to."
Now slightly more motivated, the squad clambered over the hole into the garage. Finally able to take deep breathes again, the guardsmen welcomed the cool night air into their lungs. More lights came on as stealth wasn't required any more. It was clear Max had not been in here for some time. The smooth, cracked floor was casted black in darkness as its high walls enveloped the recon team in a frightening embrace. Boxes and containers of all sorts were piled high and strewn about, creating natural alleyways and chokepoints. Perhaps once there had been some sort of organization in this antechamber, but that was long gone.
"Alright everyone, spread out and start marking things down. Remember, we want to claim whatever we can while we're here. Make inventory lists if ye need too. I'll report to command. Mind the gaps, seems to be a lotto cracks and holes in the floor here." the sergeant dialed back to Imperial CentComm, "Command, this is Sabre Actual, we've reached the target area, spreading out and marking."
"... G-... ke... Pi..."
"Command? Command? This is Sabre Actual to Imperial Central Command, do you copy?"
Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned their heads to watch the sergeant struggle to get a link back up. At the risk of raising his voice beyond a whisper, the marine kept trying to call back only to be met with silence as the static cut into nothingness. Finally fed up, he took a deep breath and addressed the worried faces he saw, "Keep on with the mission. Must be something faulty with the vox signals, might be this "wife-fly" things Maximas was talking about."
With solemn nods, the squads went back to work. The team encountered boxes made of a material similar to the plastics they had been given, but much more durable. Ginormous constructs sat dormant in corners, with wheels twice the size of a (tiny) man. Huge blades and tools hung on the wall like a trophy rack as well as the metal skeleton of a beast, stripped bare of any flesh to reveal its colored bones. Only two round rings hung on the carcass. A layer of dust coated the cracked ground, so thick in some places it was like walking into a snow drift.
"This place is a goldmine!" Dagger 2 exclaimed over the vox, "Imagine all that we could build with this."
"Tell me about it." Dagger 1 flashed his light over a large work table, attempting to distinguish what he could from the ground as he stepped over a hole, "Hey, Dagger 4, can you see if there's any way up there? Dagger 4?"
The guard leader looked around to try and find his subordinate, shining his light trying to search for them. They had just walked out of an especially dust covered bit yet there wasn't any sign of Dagger 4. Dagger 1 could see the distant cones of lights of the others in the team, but he only counted eight others plus himself.
"This is Dagger 1, has anyone seen Dagger 4?"