Author's Notes: Hello everyone, I hope that you have found the story to be enjoyable so far, Games Workshop and Fantasy Flight Games owns the setting. WARNING: Some nasty stuff in this chapter.
Harken sat on the command throne of the ship and found that he liked it, he liked it a lot. Around him crew manned as many stations as they could. Some had only been manned officers and all of them had perished in the mutiny and so sat empty. The shortage of specialists worried Harken, but he did not voice them aloud. There were troubles enough already and he did not wish to damage the shacky moral of the crew by adding to their worries. Many were still coming to grips with the knowledge of what they had done and the upset to their world that it had brought. Some, particularly those in the lower decks, were taking a little too well to their new freedom. No longer restrained by the armsmen they started to settle a number of old feuds and grudges. So it was that not a day went by that Harken did not hear of a killing or fighting in the lower decks.
Harken, for his part, had also found himself changing with their new circumstances. He had immediately assumed command and as time went on he found himself not only comfortable with the new situation, but taking a great deal of pleasure in it. Fortunately, none had been inclined to oppose him in his new station, seeing him perhaps as a comforting remnant of the old order. To reinforce this Harken had raided the quarters of the Captain and had liberated on of his old coats. It was far too large for him, of course, requiring him to cinch it tight with a heavy belt with an ornate buckle, but it was worth it. Not only did he think it dashing, but it also served Harken by giving him a superficial resemblance to the Captain which further shored up his authority.
Then there was the matter of Cleitus.
The boy was a witch, there was no denying that. The question was what was to be done with him. Harken knew that Guild law required that any witch discovered was to be handed over to the Black Ships, clearly that was not an option in their case, but that still left the matter of what to do in this situation. After his display of power he had slunk back to the Captain's old quarters and had not emerged since. When Harken had gone to the Captain's quarters to retrieve the articles of clothing he had seen the boy hunkered in the corner rocking in the fetal position, just as he had before. None knew what to do about him.
The old sailor's superstition was that witches brought bad luck to ships and all wanted him gone, but there in lay the problem. Everyone aboard who know of him was too afraid to attempt to kill him. Word of what he had done to the Captain and armsmen had spread throughout the ship and any potential assassin feared a similar fate. Though they did not want to, they left food outside of the Captain's quarters. They did this out of fear that hunger would drive him out into other parts of the ship. He was eating so for now an uneasy truce existed, they did not enter his territory, he did not come into theirs. Harken put that aside for the moment, it was an issue for later. For now, he was focusing on dealing with the crew shortage.
"Helm, what is our status?" The helmsman, a man named Clitus, looked up at him.
"We have returned to Zarda Prime and are entering orbit." The man hesitated for a moment and then spoke again.
"Captain."
Captain. Harken thought. I like the sound of that. He then turned to the man operating the vox unit.
"Have you established contact with Sanctuary of Repurposing?"
"Yes, Captain. As you instructed I informed them that Captain Matsoukas is unable to come down in person," several people on the bridge chuckled nervously as the man continued speaking; "So Chief Armsman Strodes will be overseeing the proceedings." Harken nodded, thinking of the armsman, whose body had been found beaten to a bloody pulp after the battle.
He guessed that the Mechanicus would have a list of all the officers of the Prosperity, possibly even files with images, so he could not go claiming to be one of them. Nor could he go under his own name, his previous position had been too low so he needed a false name. Strodes was the logical choice. He was, or rather had been, high up enough that he would have been entrusted with a task such as the one happening now and he was low enough that Harken doubted that the Mechanicus would have an image of him.
"Very well." He said, rising from the throne and making his way to the lift.
"Vox, instruct the team to assemble at the loading bay. Clitus, you have command till I return." In truth, the man just kept doing what he was doing, but it put the others at ease to at least have the appearance of someone being in charge.
He took the lift to the ship's main loading dock where three heavy cargo lifters were going through pre-flight checks. Also there were two groups of people. The first group were forty men and women in armsmen uniforms. Harken would have liked to have more, as they were armed and would not raise suspicion by being so, but he could not risk it. Few of the crew even knew how to handle a weapon, not that he had much either, having done most of his fighting with knives and fists. These were the ones who could either handle them somewhat, or at least could fake it. They were also some of his fiercest fighters, mostly drawn from the lower decks. This had the added bonus of having them here instead of causing trouble back on the ship.
The second and much larger group was made of crew who would be impersonating the ones who were to be given to the Mechanicus. They were supposed to look afraid and they did without having to fake it, all the fear that they were displaying was genuine. They were far out of their experience and depth with all that they were doing. They were going into a stronghold of an organization which they had been taught to revere and fear in equal measure and the stronghold which they were going to was a place of nightmares to them. It would not take much going wrong for them to panic and possible even betray Harken and the others in an effort to save their own skins. Which was one reason why Harken had chosen to have the fake prisoners be mostly those who had indeed been chosen for conversion to servitors: they had nothing to gain and the sight of the fate that they had narrowly escaped would hopefully enflame their desire to rebel and reaffirm their loyal to Harken, whom they saw as the one they had saved them.
His thoughts were interrupted by someone calling to him that everyone was abord. A sudden feeling of fear at what they were about to do flared up within him and threatened to overcome him. With an effort he forced himself to swallow and walk aboard the lifter. He made his way through those already seated within and made his way to the cockpit where Ela was going through a final system checked. Like Harken Ela had been born into slavery to the Guild and, like him, it had been found that she had talents which surpassed those of her fellow slaves. She had, like all her fellows, undergone tests to see if she had any specific talents and those tests had shown that she possessed a talent for piloting and subsequent training had confirmed this.
Harken entered the cockpit and came up behind her chair and she turned to look up at him. Her original eyes had been replaced with augments and her head was shaved and studded with plugs with allowed her to link with the shuttle, thus quickening her reactions in flight. Harken was not sure why the Guild would pay for such augments for a pilot on an ore-hauler, but he was grateful for it. He had a feeling that they were going to have to leave the Sanctuary in a hurry and they were going to need all the advantages that they could get.
"We ready?" He asked her. She nodded.
"We are, all systems are green…" she paused as if unsure about what she was going to say next; "Captain." Harken smiled and tried to draw comfort from his new title. Nothing more was said as the hauler lifted off and made its way towards the surface.
Sanctuary of Repurposing was located near the Zargous Mountains, a mountain chain rich in minerals which was a Mechanicus fiefdom. This was fortunate, as it meant that, while they would have to deal with Mechanicus forces, they would not have to deal with Guild security forces, or the dreaded Arbites. Ela took the lead and flew towards the Sanctuary, the other two haulers falling in behind her. Though he had flown many times before, Harken found this flight particularly nerve-wracking. The hauler rocked and bucked as it hit the atmosphere, nearly throwing him to the ground. He had wanted to sit down, as he had on all other flights, but there was nowhere to sit in the cockpit and he did not want to go among the others lest they see that he was as nervous as they were. The knowledge of what was waiting for them at the end of the flight made it seemed to last forever. Harken found that he had a sudden urge to urinate and move his bowels, even though he had neither eaten or drunk anything for the last few hours.
As they neared their destination he could see vast mining operations and other industries, a thick pall of dust and smoke hanging over it all. Several times the vox unit spat out what sounded like instructions, though Harken could not make any sense of them. Fortunately, Ela apparently could, making adjustments in course or speed after each transmission.
"That's it." She said after the last adjustment; indicating a large landing area. Harken tried to respond, but suddenly found his mouth so dry that he could not speak and could barely swallow. Instead, he merely nodded and headed back to join the rest of the attack force. They looked as nervous and apprehensive as he felt. He forced himself to smile and look as if he was looking forward to what was to come. He did not know if he fooled anyone, but none panicked and shortly thereafter the hauler settled down. Harker forced himself to the hatch and was the first off when it lowered.
The air outside was hot and the exhaust from the haulers and the buildings around him made him chough and choke. After a few moments of this he was able to get his breathing under control and descend the ramp. At the bottom a tech-priest was waiting for him. The priest was so heavily augmented that Harken could not tell it the priest was a man or a woman, nor truth to tell, was he terribly interested at the moment. As he reached the bottom of the ramp the priest approached him.
+You are two point seven minutes behind beyond your scheduled arrival. Tardiness is unacceptable+ Harken was taken aback, but he forced himself to stand firm and respond as he thought Strodes would have.
"Not my fault. Those whoresons…" that was as far as he got.
+Excuses are irrelevant. Your guild shall be informed of this tardiness. Disciplinary actions shall likely result+ Harken tried to look contrite, when in actuality he was relieved. Whatever happened next a reprimand from the Guild would be the least of his concerns. Still, he tried to look chastised and slightly nervous. Fortunately, the priest seemed satisfied and turned back towards the Sanctuary.
+Come, production quotas must be met. Let us proceed with the processing of the new units+ The priest motioned for Harken to follow. Harken and the others went into a large building.
The first thing that hit Harken was the smell; the whole place stank of feces, unwashed bodies and fear. Though not a physical thing, that last one was the strongest. The building was packed with men, women and, Harken felt his gore rise at the sight, children. They were surrounded by men in overalls armed with shock prods. These men were shouting at the people to undress and then move in a line through a door. People were screaming, crying, cursing, begging and more, but all that this resulted in were curses and blows from the prod-wielders. The tech-priest turned to the ones posing as armsmen, while at the same time indicating those posing as prisoners with a mechanical limb.
+Put them with the others armsmen+ The time to act had come.
For a moment the fear within him threated to overwhelm him; before it could do so he acted. From his belt he pulled out his own weapon, a large semi-automatic slug-thrower and aimed it at the tech-priest. He then shouted to his followers, making his voice as loudly as he could. Both to motivate them and in an effort to bolster his own courage.
"NOW!" The tech-priest turned back to him, clearly intending to demand an explanation. It did not get the chance.
Harken leveled the pistol at the tech-priest's face and fired three times. The bullets smashed through the metal faceplate and the tech-priest fell to the ground, the lights in its mechanical eyes going dim. For a moment Harken just stared at the body and then looked at what was going on around him. Pandemonium had broken out. His people were locked in a desperate fight with the enforcers, aided by the prisoners.
His people who were armed with shotguns were mostly hanging back; their unfamiliarity with their weapons and the fact that the two sides were engage in melee their efforts would do more harm than good. The ones posing as prisoners had slipped their bonds, which had been there only for show and produced their own weapons, mostly knives and improvised weapons which could be easily concealed in their clothing. While none had formal combat training, a number of them had had their share of fights in the lower decks. They also were motivated by fear and rage at the future that they had narrowly avoided. The people slotted for conversion did not understand what was going on, but they realized a chance to escape and took it. The Mechanicus people fought back, but they were surrounded, taken by surprise and not used to dealing with people who fought back. Soon it was over. The sudden silence was almost as frightening as the sounds of battle had been. For a moment Harken stood there, not sure what to do, then he gathered himself. He raised his voice to shout out another command, taking care to encompass the prisoners.
"FOLLOW ME!" He cried as he charged towards a door on the wall opposite the one that they had come in from.
The slapping of bare feet, mixed in with the pounding of boots told him that at least some of the prisoners had joined in with his people. The door opened onto a broad corridor, down the middle of which was a caged walkway, clearly for the prisoners to walk down. There were several more individuals with shock prods, but these were quickly dealt with. At the end of the corridor was a second door; a young man, one of the prisoners, shot ahead of Harken and was first to the door. As he threw the door open; however, a shot rang out. The back of his head exploded and he fell to the ground. Harken was running too quickly to stop and also passed through the door. As he did so he threw himself to the side.
A second shot struck where he had been a moment before. Looking up he saw on several raised platforms upon which were positioned sharpshooters, apparently the Mechanicus was relying on more than mere thugs with shock prods to keep order. Harken fired wildly as he tried to keep moving to make himself a harder target. His aiming was wild and the shot went wide and the sharpshooter continued firing, joined by his fellows on the other platforms. Unfortunately, for them, people continued to pour in, there were simply too many targets. Harken's people fired their shotguns up at the snipers and, through sheer weight of firepower, managed to bring one down. The freed prisoners swarmed up the platforms, heedless of their loses. They pulled down the snipers and viciously beat them to death. The situation seemingly not as dire Harken took the opportunity to look around.
The caged walkway went most of the length of the room. At various positions there were archways which the prisoners had to pass through, though Harken could not see what their function was. Futter on servitors were shaving prisoners of all their hair and dressing them in rubber suits which hung loosely on them till they were shrunk to fit their bodies. The prisoners were now banging on the sides of the caged walkway, shouting, screaming and begging to be let out. The prisoners who had accompanied Harken and the others fell on the cage, aided by some of Harken's people. Soon several sections of the fence gave way and the people poured out.
The blaring of an alarm drew Harken's attention. He supposed that it had been sounding all along and he was just now noticing it. The sound of the alarm helped him focus his thoughts. They had pushed their luck as far as they could, perhaps more so. Reinforcements were no doubt on the way and now that the element of surprise was gone things would doubtless rapidly turn against them. It was time for them to leave. He opened his mouth to yell for a withdrawal. Before he could; however, a shot grazed his cheek. He whirled, trying to find the source of the shooting even as a thought occurred to him, the shot had been energy, not a bullet.
He looked behind him as another shot burned past him. From a door that he had not noticed before came half a dozen robed individuals and started heading towards him. These were no menials, from what he could see they all sported extensive cybernetic augmentation and were armed with energy weapons that he did not recognize. Seeing them bearing their weapons down on him he dove for cover behind the base of one of the shooting platforms. Bolts of energy shot out, some of them flew by, but others struck the platform, blasting away whole chunks. Harken tried to poke his head around long enough to get off a shot, but the incoming fire was too intense, then another shot rang out. It did not come from the newcomers, but behind Harken. He registered this along with another, very welcome sound, the sound of one of the attackers hitting the ground. As he could not get a shot off, Harken risked a look behind him. Lying prone on another of the platform was a man. Harken could not see much of the man other than the fact that he had one of the enforcer's rifles and clearly knew how to use it. Even as Harken looked on the man fired again and another of the augmented soldiers went down. Nor did their problems end there.
The newcomers had emerged from a door about in the middle of the room, meaning they stood between a number of the prisoners and the door Harken and the others had come through. In their rage and desperation a mob rushed them and though the augmented individuals killed many, both with their rifles and a number of close combat weapons that they produced, they were also pulled down. Once they had dealt with them the mob rushed onwards. Harken moved to follow them, then paused. Moved by some curiosity he headed towards the door that the augmented soldiers had come from. He told himself that he was being a fool, that time was short and he should run, but he could not help himself. He come to the door and looked inside.
For a moment he thought that he was looking at some torture chamber. There were table with restraints on them and all manner of tool, most of which seemed to be saws or blades. Three of the tables were occupied by what at first Harken thought were servitors, but which, on closer inspection, turned out to be tech-priests. Two of them were dead, each with a single hole drilled through their heads, while a fourth tech-priest stood over the third bound one, one of the unbound priest's limbs ended in a drill and it was descending towards the head of the bound one. Without thinking Harken raised his pistol and fired twice. The first shot went wide, the second struck the priest in the shoulder. With a blare of sound that somehow managed to communicate outrage, the tech-priest turned towards him. Before it could do anything, Harken fired again, this time hitting the tech-priest and making it fall to the ground.
"That was well done." The bound tech-priest said. To Harken's surprise the voice sounded not only human, but feminine.
Coming closer Harken could see that her voice was not the only thing odd about her. While augmented, her body still display organic parts. Her whole right arm was still flesh, though tears to the skin showed metal beneath. Her face was still organic, except for mechanical eyes and she still had feminine features beneath her exoskeleton. Harken shook himself and focused on her face, keeping his pistol ready.
"Who are you?" He demanded.
"We do not have time to exchange life stories." She replied, impatience and fear in her voice.
"More will be coming soon. If we do not get away and soon, we shall all be killed, or worse." Harken thought of all that he had seen. Things her kind were responsible for.
"Why should I trust you, your lot did all this!" She made a disgusted sound.
"As you can clearly see, I am not with them!" She said emphatically. She then spoke again in a voice which was both desperate and commanding.
"Look. I know people, people who can help you. Fee me and I can take you to them." Harken thought fast.
He was not sure that he trusted her, on the other hand this could be an answered prayer. If she was telling the truth, she had a place that they could go to escape the Guild and the Mechanicus. He needed a tech-priest to run the ship and he needed…quite a number of things. He looked down at her and nodded.
"Alright," he said and then he made his voice as low and menacing as he could; "But, if you betray me woman, I'll live long enough to make you regret ever being born. Trust me on that."
Author's Notes: Hello everyone, I hope that you enjoyed it. I got the idea from. Things will pick up in the next chapter so stay tuned. Bye, have a good day and may Jesus bless you.