Malusov Station
A skull, half-mechanical, half-human leered at me from above a mirror in the washroom. Clad in only undershorts, I pulled a coarse towel through my wet hair. What's that? I dropped the towel on the wooden bench and stared at the door leading to the hab unit. A faint alarm sounded.
"James, are you decent?"
"Y—yeah." I lunged for an olive-grey t-shirt stacked on top of my trousers and jacket. The colour had long faded from green-grey to plain grey. Stitching sprouted from the hem and holes had appeared in the thin cotton. "What's going on?"
"Can I come in?"
"Fine, fine." I flapped my socks loose and tugged them over my feet. A slim Enginseer in a red dress and hood inched in to the washroom, her arms clamped to her sides. Shadows hid a pale face, half-human, half-machine. Green eyes shone from beneath the hood.
"I'm sorry. I didn't want to barge in on you, James." Andalusia worked her hands together.
"Nah, it's fine."
"Err, are you fine to travel?"
"Course I'm fine to travel. Got my own stompers, 'aven't I?" I rolled my right arm. "Arm's fixed too."
"I see. We are vacating this facility."
"Urgraf?" I dragged my trousers on. "It's not the Obrist, is it?"
"I don't know." Lusia stepped backwards. "I'll be outside."
Sorge. My fingers gripped my half-tied bootlaces. Throne, he's got Susannah and Trip.
"Is there any way we can get off this station and on to Zarkaniy quietly?" I strode in to the hab unit. "Lusia, is there any—?"
"Hurry, James!" Lusia shouldered a backpack with four folded Mechadendrite arms attached and fitted a holstered plasma pistol to her belt.
"Oi, hold on…" I trotted after Lusia. "Lusia? Lusia!"
"Not now, James."
"Don't patronise, Lusia."
"I'm not patronising you. You've been through a terrible ordeal. It's a wonder you are…"
"What? A wonder I'm what?"
"Lilli, lock up please." Lusia leaned over a keypad sitting beneath a cogitator in a room full of screens.
"Lilli?"
"I promise, all your questions will be answered in time, James. Come on now." The lights dimmed. "They'll be here in ten minutes."
"Urgraf? How many are there, Lilli?"
"Lilli, answer please."
"Mistress. Sir, five teams of ten mercenaries disembarked their dropship eight and a half minutes ago. They are spreading out in to the corridors. None are currently on our deck."
"Are there naval officers with them, Lilli?"
"Two men in grey, sir."
"Sorge and Barakat." I jumped the stairs two at a time behind Lusia. "What about the Obrist? Tall, grey-haired bloke."
"No such individual matches that specification."
"Shit."
"What?" Lusia whisked me in to an empty corridor outside her lab and tapped out a code on a keypad, sealing the door behind us. "James, who is the Obrist?"
"Dammit, I need all three here."
"Who is the Obrist?"
"Urgraf OC. If he's 'ere with Sorge and Barakat, Urgraf are leaderless."
"That can't be true. He must have a 2IC, James. Just because a unit is without it's commanding officer doesn't mean it cannot function." Lusia led me over to a vent hatch and thrust her fist at a small interface. From a bracelet on her wrist shot a thin jack. It swivelled and the vent, shaped like an iris, dilated. "Lilli, I'm taking you off comms." Lusia fitted a small tile with spikes on to a socket on the back of her neck. I scrambled in to the vent after Lusia. Behind me, the hatch slid shut.
"We need a ship. Something small that'll get us out unnoticed."
"I've spoken with Lilli. She has a plan."
"She?"
"Yes, James. She." Lusia's backpack scraped across the ceiling. "Argh, damn it."
"Sweary for a techpriestess."
"Well, actually I'm just an Enginseer, for feth's sake."
"I was thinking of a different word but…"
Lusia half-turned towards me and gripped the edge of the vent where it opened out. "Bit of a drop here. I'd back out and let yourself down as lightly as possible."
"D'you want me to take your pack?"
"No, thank you—umph!" Lusia wriggled her backside over the edge and dropped.
"Oh, there she is. Better late than never, I suppose."
"Bit old for hide-and-seek, aren't we, Lusia?"
Roughly ten feet below, two other Enginseers wearing robes identical to Lusia's lounged on a thick cluster of pipes. Lusia straightened up, shook her backpack, and waved up at me. "Come on down, James. It's alright."
"No, no, no, who are these people first?"
"Purvi Varsani and Stefani Amit. Valued Enginseers." Lusia raised her arms. "I trust them."
Purvi and Stefani wore bulky facemasks with tubes circling down from the mouthpiece and round respirator lenses covering their eyes. Packs with mechadendrite arms attached sat at their feet. I let one leg then the other dangle and pushed away from the edge.
"Ooh, got you." Lusia's hands closed around my armpits and set me on the grating.
"Now sanitise, dear Lusia. Never know what's inside a soldier's armpits."
"Mint scent, in James's case." Lusia smiled. "Sergeant James Larn. Imperial Guard."
"Err…" I searched around in my trouser pocket and brought out the pips.
"Oh, James, I…" Lusia touched her mouth.
"Heh-heh, where did you steal those from?" Stef said.
"Stef…" Purvi laid a hand on Stef's knee.
"Purvi, Stef, on your feet please. We've a tight road ahead. You know where you're going, Stef?"
"Please don't look at my arse, boy." Stef hoisted her backpack on and barged past me.
"Ha-ha! Think I've shagged manlier women than him, Stef." Purvi brushed crumbs from her dress and picked up her backpack.
"Ma'am." I squatted and followed Lusia beneath a nest of pipes. "Is it far?"
"Well, it's downhill all the way, if that's any consolation."
"You've got a ship then?"
"We have a ship ready, yes."
Purvi prodded my back. "Hurry up."
"All this rests on the Magos. Our beloved Magos Basil Guglielmana."
"Joo—who?"
"And how far he can stall Urgraf before they force him to implement a lockdown of the station."
"So, we're sealed up tight when those doors go down then."
"Couldn't have summarised it better myself," Lusia said. "Now, our path takes us inside the walls and the ceiling—"
"Noise disciple. Roger."
"Yeah." Lusia's backpack scraped against a pipe. "Mmph. Sorry."
Boots tramped the corridor beneath us. Through a tiny grate, I spied an Urgraf team jogging by below. All bore arms and wore ballistic vests and ceramite. At least they're not wearing those bird masks any more. Bloody joke that. Purvi poked me.
"Sssh." Ahead of us, Lusia pressed a finger to her lips and pointed at a floor vent. I planted my hands on either side of the slats and put my nose to the gaps. "That's the Magos."
Commanders Sorge and Barakat accompanied a shambling, hunchbacked pile of red robing. Four bodyguards trailed them. "…certain rituals that cannot be ignored before lockdown is initiated, Commander. The age of the station prohibits any hastiness. Venerable workings are temperamental even on good days."
"But you would be happy to initiate a lockdown, Magos. I very much wish to find my man alive and unharmed."
"What was the purpose of this?" Purvi nudged me aside. "Now he's asking if you're unharmed."
"Ssh!"
The party trailing the Magos moved out of sight and earshot, leaving the corridor in silence. "Ma'am, I'll explain later," I whispered. "Let's move on."
Thumps and scrapes came from the Enginseers' backpacks. Grunts burbled from their masks. At a junction, Lusia turned around and slipped down a hole. "Ladder here, James. Be careful, the rungs are narrow."
"Don't look up." Purvi jabbed a finger at me. "Don't look up."
"Ma'am." I backed on to the rungs and climbed after Lusia and Stef. "How—how far down."
"210 rungs."
"You've been down 'ere before then?"
"It's the only discreet way down to one of our tertiary hangars. It gets us past locked doors that would set off sensors if opened. There shouldn't be any techs down there as well—just servos."
"Shouldn't be?"
"Ahh, that's where Lilli comes in."
"C—can she hear?"
"Worried about the skeletons in your closet, boy?" Purvi said. "Was that why they were torturing you?"
"Purvi, address James with respect. As an AdMech-friend."
"Ha-ha, he's no friend of mine."
"He does not need to be."
"Mind your head here." Stef reached up for Lusia's backpack and steadied her. Both women removed their backpacks and pushed them in to a crawlspace ahead of them. I crawled in behind them.
"Ma'am—?"
"James, you don't have to address me like that."
"When is the wedding booked for, Lusia?" Stef said.
"I didn't want the commission, y'know."
"Can we discuss this later, James?"
"Yeah, we'll…" I ducked my head. A clang rolled through the passage.
"Agh, you're not usually on. Go through, Lusia."
"Ventilation ahead, James. It's a bit of a squeeze."
"Should be something you're used to then." Purvi's backpack thudded against my heels.
Stef lay with her wrist holding a fan blade in place. "Don't mind me."
"Thank you, Stef." Lusia shoved her backpack between the blades and crawled through the gap. "Here, let me." Her own arm holding the blade in place, Lusia kicked her back pack aside, allowing Stef through. "James, you next."
My shoulders cleared the blades and I turned to Purvi. "Ma'am?"
Purvi punched her backpack at me and burrowed forwards. "Careful with that."
"Mmm…" Lusia's forearm trembled.
"I'm through."
"Gaagh!" The blades whipped in to life. Lusia shook her arm. Milky liquid ran down her hand.
"Your arm alright?"
"Fine, it's fine. Lead on, Stef. James, with Stef please."
"Hang on, shouldn't you see about your arm?"
"No, it's alright. I'll be along. Purvi?"
"Come along, child."
"Keep those eyes on the floor." Stef reached an iris hatch and clambered in to the next section. "Omnissiah, which mud hole did Lusia find you in?"
"Ma'am?" I straddled the hatch and held out my hands.
"If I'd wanted a servitor, I'd have ordered one." Purvi swung her backpack at me. "You want to be a servitor? I can make you a servitor."
"Thank you." I passed the backpack through the hatch. "Are you in R&D too, ma'am?"
"I just make the recaf."
"Err, do you, ma'am?"
"James, Purvi's just pulling your leg."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Yes, ma'am, no, ma'am, please be gentle, ma'am!" Purvi slapped her hands to her mask and tilted her head from side to side.
"Purvi, that was unwarranted." Milky liquid stained Lusia's backpack. "How will others treat you if you yourself offer nothing but condescension?"
"Ah-haha! We're seeing a very different Lusia today." Purvi took off after Stef.
"Follow the Enginseers, James." Lusia squeezed her arm. "I'm fine. Self-sealing skin."
"Wish I had that."
"Your arm?"
"Aw, it's nothing. Just took a bit of a tumble not long ago." I cupped a curving pipe and sidled underneath.
"Not from mud-wrestling a Zeke? Carrying a wounded buddy through artillery?"
"Eh-heh-heh. Nah, I just fell over, that's all."
"I'd have believed you."
"Number ten."
"I would!"
"Ladies, can we have Lilli unseal this hatch?" Stef knocked her fist against a bulkhead hatch.
"It's unlocked."
"Err…" Stef tapped the hatch release. "I don't think it is."
"Throne, the Magos hasn't initiated lockdown already, has he?" Purvi touched the release.
"He can't have done. We'd only have the auxiliary lighting down here."
"James, do you want to try?" Lusia's hand settled on my arm. I jerked it away from Lusia. "Oh, sorry."
"Wha—how could he make a difference?"
"Purvi, can you make some space?"
"Where do I…?" My hand hovered over a button the size of my palm.
"Press it."
The hatch split down the middle. How the…? I turned my hand around. A deep red scar ran from one side of my palm to the other. I remembered the knife's touch, and the spilt blood.
"Oh, for Throne's sake!" Stef swung herself in to the connecting tunnel. "Come on, Purvi."
"Are you alright?" Lusia said from behind me.
I swivelled to face Lusia. "I hated it, what we did. I don't deserve these pips Sorge gave me. I don't deserve any of it."
"James, it's—"
"You remember, don't you? We killed Imperial soldiers."
Lusia leaned forwards on her knees. "Then why aren't you down there with your commander?"
"Because I'm not dying in someone's shadow but with the sun on me. Free. It's what she'd want."
"Your commission is nothing to be ashamed about. You do deserve it."
"Bought it with blood though, didn't I? Callum Lorne, Ben Borens, Olen Azar, Cyra—" I hid my face from Lusia, found the edge of the hatch, and ducked down the tunnel.
Green light bathed a small hangar filled with lumbering servitors shunting hover-sledges across a deck thick with cables, wire clusters and storage containers. Purvi and Stef gathered on either side of a grate and removed coverings from their fingertips.
"Hey." Lusia opened her backpack and brought out a folded AdMech robe and a mask. "Put this on."
"Why?"
"Just do as you're told, boy!" Purvi unscrewed her corner of the grate.
"It's just for the walk to the tender. They'll recognise you otherwise."
"Could Lilli disable the feeds?"
"Not while she's with me. Good thinking though."
I sniffed the inside of the mask. "Is this…?"
"Eh-heh-heh, it's clean. It's just come out of the wash."
"Make some room." Purvi and Stef lifted the grate clear and leaned it against the tunnel wall.
"Er, how do you…?"
"Let me help."
"You two." Stef shook her head. "Need a few minutes alone?"
"That will not be necessary, Stef. Thank you for the thought." Lusia smiled.
"You can wipe that smile off your face, boy!"
Lusia leading, the four of us dropped to a catwalk running around the hangar. "See that tender?"
"Yeah," I mumbled back through my mask.
"Put your hood up." Lusia vaulted the rail and landed on stacked crates.
"Move!" Purvi slapped my backside.
"Umph!" I landed on the crate Lusia stood beneath.
"Down here, James."
"How d'you move in these?" I slithered down to the deck.
"Could be worse. You've never had to wear heels." Lusia pointed at a ship shaped like a tuning fork. "There's our ride." Purvi's and Stef's feet thumped upon the deck. "Come on."
Oddly-shaped seats lined the tender's bulkheads. Seats no human spine could have bent itself in to. "Seat yourself, James. I'll be back once we've prepped for departure." Lusia followed Purvi and Stef along a companionway up to the cockpit. More hybrid skulls sat in the bulkhead at intervals. Oxidised surfaces showed where grungy green paint flaked. The rounded upper half of the seat pressing in to my back, I pulled a harness tight across my chest and shoved a finger beneath the AdMech mask and gnawed on an overgrown fingernail.
A few minutes later, Lusia clattered down the companionway. "James, I'll need you to adopt lungs."
"You what?"
"Overhead…" Lusia rootled inside a locker and removed a cylindrical tank with a tube attached. "Sorry, but there's no onboard O2 unit. If I can just…" Lusia fitted the end of the tube to a socket on my mask and twisted. "Just test for a second." A valve squeaked.
"Mm-hm. Ta. Are we still in the clear?"
"Yeah, we're just waiting for the morning's disposal."
"Disposal?"
"Just waste. It's shot out in to space—a whole stream of rubbish and you-know-what. When that goes out, we go out."
"Won't they see our heat?"
"We'll be dark. It only takes a tiny push and we'll be in perpetual motion."
"Yeah, we're not going to be drifting, I hope. We need to board Zarkaniy and free the crew before Urgraf and the commander return."
"It won't be for long. We'll only re-engage impulse once we're far enough away from the station."
"It's got to be quiet."
"Well, we've no stealth drive, James. There's zero chance of us sneaking up on a warship." Lusia parked herself on the seat opposite mine and rested her elbows on her knees. "Lilli and I have a different idea."
"Scythe-Class Cruiser Zarkaniy, this is AdMech Tender Talon X-Ray 4660, reduce velocity and stand ready to receive inspection of cargo and crew."
The O2 bottle bulging in my cargo pocket, I stood with Lusia behind the pilot's chairs on the tender's bridge. Purvi manned the helm and Stef the comm. Cables ran from jacks in their forearms. Bold move. Never would have thought of it.
"AdMech tender, we are an Inquisition vessel on outbound flight from Cadia. No cargo or personnel are being transferred to your station. No inspection is required."
"Inquisition?" Lusia stiffened.
"Zarkaniy, under order of Magos Basil Guglielmana your cargo will be inspected as underlined in Title Seventy-One, Section Fourteen of the Ustinov Space-faring Rules and Regulations. Failure to adhere to the Space-faring act will be recorded and transmitted to the Magos, who will refer you to the Naval Board of Conduct."
"Does that even exist?" I mouthed to Lusia.
"Yes."
"AdMech tender, I say again, we are an Inquisition-registered vessel. We are not bound by the Ustinov SRR."
"Zarkaniy, you are in AdMech-controlled space. Inspection of cargo and crew is mandatory. We approved your boarding party. It is only fair you approve ours."
Come on, come on. My mouth and nose warmed behind the mask. The O2 bottle bulged beneath the AdMech robe.
"AdMech tender, input these coordinates in to your navicom. Once you have docked, power down your systems. You will be met."
I dropped to my knees and made the Aquila. Thank you. Thank you.
"James?"
"Yeah, I know. Hard part's still to come."
With the tender on auto-pilot, the four of us left the bridge. "First, I'd like to thank you all for doing this. Now, none of you need disembark with me."
"I'm with you one-hundred per cent," Lusia said.
"Thank you, ma'am. Enginseers, you don't have to go."
"Though three of us would add weight to the ruse."
"Okay, so we need Lilli to find a backdoor in the ship's systems. Would that be possible, ma'am?"
"Certainly. Though in order for Lilli to gain full access, I would need to unshackle her, so to speak, which I've already done."
"Lusia, that's heresy!" Purvi thumped her knee joint. "What were you thinking?"
"Ma'am, there's 350 Urgraf aboard. There's four of us. We need Lilli operating in the shadows."
"Does it—does it bother you, Lusia? Breaking our laws. They're there for a reason."
"I understand that, Purvi. But I will see this through. It's the least—the very least—I can do for James."
"If we do this, will you tell us what you and Lusia were up to on Cadia?"
"I will explain in full—in full—once we are in safer waters," Lusia said. "We are now playing the part of characters, and we will perform for these Urgraf pirates."
"And once you have Lilli loaded in, I'll debus and make my way to Containment. It'd help if we're in communication too."
Lusia planted a bud the size of my fingertip in my palm. "Brand new."
"Number one." I peeled the plastic covering away and fitted the bud.
"Non-lethal." Lusia passed a collapsible baton to me. "Make sure you jab 'em with the right end."
"Ta." I grasped the stippled handle and flicked the baton out. "There'll be no killing, y'understand?"
"Urgraf may not agree with that."
"Yeah, just don't fall back on the guns at once. As a last resort, y'know."
"I understand."
"Lilli?"
"Lilli understands."
"Number one." I punched my palm. Purvi and Stef glanced at each other. "Once I've got the prisoners out, Lilli, can you direct me to the nearest arms locker. I'll also need you to seal off different compartments of the ship with the biggest concentration of Urgraf and give us a good route to the bridge, Comms, Engineering, etcetera. Ma'am, don't get busy on Urgraf until I've sprung the prisoners. There's forty of 'em so we should be alright if I can get 'em armed."
"Excellent. Couldn't have formulated a better plan myself." Lusia's eyes narrowed behind her mask. "That's an officer's planning."
"Stop. Stop."
"Just accept it, boy," Purvi said.
I rested my brow in my hand. "I'm not a proper officer."
"No, that's exactly the sort of nonsense I'd hear from a wetnosed officer candidate, not a veteran of Cadia! I see what Sorge was doing with you on the station."
"Who—who is this Sorge anyway?" Stef looked between Purvi and Lusia and slapped the back of her hand in her palm. "Well?"
"He's…" I pinched the skin between my eyebrows. "He is the Inquisitor's uncle."
"No!" Lusia pressed her hands over her mask. "Omnissiah, why can't we be rid of these people?"
"Madam Enginseers, Commander Sorge is… well, he's a very dangerous man and I want to be as far away from him and his bureau as bloody well possible. You're now guilty by association, so you're probably better off making tracks too."
Lusia scrunched up her robe around her knee. "I will kill him for what he and his nephew did. By the Dragon, I will kill him."
"No more killing."
"James, he's—"
I slammed the side of my fist against the bulkhead. "No more killing!"
"Urgraf may not respect that."
"Number ten. There's always a choice. Not killing any more of our people."
"Our people? They're not my people. By the Machine God, no! They're mercenaries without morals baying to be let off the leash Sorge has around his wrist. Omnissiah, James, you can't call them your people."
"Hrgh." I scratched at my scalp. "Just don't feel right wasting anyone not Zeke. Not after what happened on—on Cadia."
"Stef?" Purvi lifted her head from where it lay in her hand. "I don't know about you but I'd rather sleep soundly in ignorance. This whole affair stinks of rot. Naval Intelligence, Inquisition, this torture set-up. Who in the Warp thought this was a good idea?"
"I didn't force you, Purvi. You and Stef came willingly."
"Yes, because we thought you wanted to play another joke on the Magos or—or spy on the male showers—" A thump across the chest from Stef shut Purvi up. "I—I—I think I'm out of my depth."
"Then stay. You both can stay. James, Lilli and I can go alone."
Crackles fired from the speakers on Purvi's and Stef's masks. "Oi, oi, what they sayin'?"
"They're debating—arguing—whether they should come with us."
I leaned forwards and clasped my hands. "Madam Enginseers, Zarkaniy is en-route to Haven. To Orsolya. Wouldn't you like some fresh air? Some sunlight too?"
"Our placement is in the Magos' division, boy."
"We know an Archmagos in need of free-thinking minds not burdened by—by…"
"Dogma," Lusia said.
"If you think we'll accept this invitation to commit tech-heresy, you are way off the target-board, young man."
"There'll be lots of nice techs in Orsolya. Single Enginseers and whatnot. Who wouldn't want to get to know three learned minds, brilliant in their fields?"
"That won't swing it."
"Okay." I shook my hands. "Madam van Callet, could we persuade the Enginseers to either assist in our mission or return to duty aboard the station?"
"Oh, are you trying to pull rank on us? Think you can frighten us with those shiny pips?"
"I'm not the one you should be worrying about."
"James is right one-hundred per cent. Purvi, Stef, you came this far, you're coming all the way. There'll be no half-arsing."
Purvi tilted her head close to Stef's. "Strange hearing her swear, don't you think?"
"Hmm, wonder where she got that from."
The tender juddered. Beneath the seats, the deck trembled. The sound of docking clamps closing around the fork's prongs boomed through the interior. I loosened my harness and punched the release. "Right, that's our cue, ma'am."
"If I have to say 'call me Lusia' once again, I'll…" Lusia threw her harness off and tottered upright. "Horrid seats. I'll put money that's where the budget's been cut."
"Shall we lock you two in a room for an hour and let you settle things before we step off?" Purvi tightened a seal on her mask.
"Are we doing this or what, Lusia?" Stef drew her hood.
"Brought a surprise for you, James." Lusia dove in to the pouches hanging from her backpack. "Number one; this might come as a shock to the system." Lusia produced a collapsible baton.
"That's not even worthy of remark, Lusia!"
"The button by your thumb activates the circuit. Use sparingly."
"Ta." I sat the baton on the seat beside me.
"Stun grenades." Lusia handed me two black disks, each two inches thick. "Two twists clockwise arms for three seconds. Another twist for six, then nine and so on."
"Number one." I pocketed the stunners.
"And one last treat." Lusia brought out something small and square, wrapped up in a red cloth.
"It won't come to that."
"What d'you mean?"
"It's a coward's way out, innit?"
"No, no, I thought you might like it." Lusia unwrapped the cloth. "Ginger cake."
Behind Lusia, Purvi made an O with her thumb and forefinger and pushed her other forefinger through it. "Ha-ha!" Stef shoved Purvi.
My hand closed around the cake slice and set it next to the baton. "Good luck, ma'am." I tapped my earbud. "I'll be listening."
"And you, James."
The Enginseers left through the ship's ventral hatch and climbed down a ladder. I counted two minutes then got down on my knees and prayed. My pict I took from inside my breast pocket and unfolded it. We'll do it right this time. No killing. I stared at the faded, black and white pict, curling at the edges and scratched by sand. Once Urgraf are in the bag, we'll make the last leg to Haven. From there… My thumb caressed the pict. No clue.
"James, comms check."
"Er, s—strength five, strength five." I shoved the pict in my breast pocket and buttoned up.
"Good or bad?"
"Number one."
"You are definitely giving me the run-down on these numbers you blurt out every five seconds."
"Eh-heh. I'll book you in a slot next week."
"Crowded itinerary?"
"Yeah, hold on. What's going on down there?"
"No panic. We've made contact with an elderly gentleman and two Urgraf escorts. They're kindly taking us on a tour of the ship."
"Whack-ho."
"Sorry?"
"Good. Keep sending updates. Codeword to strike is Aletheia. Aletheia."
"You did remember."
"Hm-hmph. Hope you packed those seeds."
"Of course. Lusia, over and out."
Just out. I tutted and removed the mask and the robe. Baton, check. Stunners, check. Sharp metal pricked my fingers; the officer's pips. Guess I'll put on a performance too.
Baton clamped under my arm in the same vein as a swagger stick, I marched across a secondary hangar small than the one the lander had occupied. Empty starfighters stood in berths, their landing skids held in place by titanium shackles. Two silhouettes looked down at me from an observation deck before one withdrew. My arm squeezed the baton to my side.
"James, Lilli is in."
"Roger."
"Give her a command and I'll relay it."
"Wait one." I headed through the sliding blast door in to a low corridor leading to Transit. A smaller door to my right slid upwards and an Urgraf wearing a black beret stepped through.
"What the hell do you think you're doing in there?" The Urgraf laid his hand on the holstered pistol at his waist. "And who the hell are you?"
I stopped, about-faced, and advanced on the Urgraf, my chin out and my shoulders back. "Stand at attention when you address an officer."
"Er, what, I…" The Urgraf's eyes fell on my pips.
"STAND AT—" Boots jumped together. "Abouuut-FACE!" The Urgraf pivoted and put his back to me. "MARCH!" The Urgraf thundered upstairs. Close behind, I removed the baton from beneath my arm and rested my thumb on the button. Now, how many are up here with you?
Two Urgraf leaped from chairs inside the hangar's control centre. Both wore pistol belts and berets. "Who the hell are you?"
"HALT!" The Urgraf slammed his boots on the deck in the centre of the room. "LEFT FACE!" The Urgraf swung left. "MARCH!" The Urgraf marched until his right cheek connected with the bulkhead.
"What's the meaning of this?" The other Urgraf's hands sat on their holsters. "Bloody intruder!"
"Button that lip." I pointed the baton at the Urgraf and drew a circle in the air. "That man spoke to me in an insolent manner. He's gonna stand still as stone for the next 'alf hour. Get your chrono handy and time him."
"Wait, who are you… sir?"
"I work for Commander Richard Sorge. He'll be interested to hear 'bout you and your fellow bedwetters' welcoming committee. I'm sure he'd be very happy to pass it on to the Obrist too."
"I apologise, sir—"
"You don't 'ave permission to speak! No whispers from him. Nothing. Not a sound."
"Yes, sir." The two Urgraf removed their hands from their holsters. "Whatever you say, sir."
My gaze swept around from the frozen Urgraf to the other Urgraf's cold stares. "I didn't see any of you at Cadia." I returned the baton to my armpit, about-faced, and walked out of the control centre. "I don't see anyone now."
"James, what was that?"
"Bit of admin." I stamped down the stairs.
"Are you in the clear?"
"Yeah, I'll need Lilli to track my location and give me a straight run to Transit. I'm heading over to the medbays first. Cargo there I'm picking up."
"Right. Omnissiah, this man is a bore."
"He's not Urgraf?"
"He's not dressed like one."
"Makes him friendly then." I threw a look back at the hangar and turned right. "Don't incapacitate him. Just those focus on those two meatheads when I say."
"Got it."
Ceiling lights flickered. Doors slid up and down, slamming in to their housing. Steam rolled from floor vents and curled around my feet. "Lusia, what's going on?"
"Lilli's still getting to grips with the ship." A fire alarmed beeped. "She's—" Sprinklers burst above my head.
"ARGH!" I raised my arm and held it above my head. "Turn the sprinklers off!"
"Sorry, James. The ship's fighting back. Throne, all that scrapcode. Well over ten-thousand years' old—no wonder it's cranky!"
"Any time this week, Lilli!" Water soaked through my jacket and shirt. The lights dropped away to nothing. I stumbled and leaned against a bulkhead, my hand shielding my eyes. Flashes of light broke through my fingers. Where is Osvat Radu Zeleska? "No…" I sunk in to a crouch and covered my ears. The baton hit the deck and threw water up my trouserleg.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm f—I'm fine." The corridor skidded sideways. Get up. Get up, James. You're an officer! I slapped my cheek. Get up, you bastard!
Dry fingers closed around my arm. "Stand up, James."
The rain ended. Wet through, I peered about in the brightly-lit corridor. "L—Lusia, say again?"
"I didn't say anything."
A tram howled through the station. Sparks flew from the underside of the cars. "Lusia, the trams are going haywire here. Can Lilli slow 'em down?"
"I think they're getting suspicious. We can hear a fire alarm."
A second set of cars screeched past. I ducked away from the cyclone of air and hid behind a pillar. "Lilli, we're gonna be having collisions soon. Get these cars under control."
"She's trying. There are a hundred different tasks she's juggling right now."
I kicked at a pillar. My boot heel left a wet smear across the surface. Come on, damn it! Minutes ticked by. My boots left circles of wet prints on the platform. Why has delivering Lilli aboard caused such an avalanche?
"James, Lilli might have something for you."
"Aw, thank the Emperor."
"It's Lilli's doing."
"Yeah alright. Both!" I leaned over the platform's edge. A tram, still a good forty feet away, backed along the tunnel towards me. "Can you…?"
"Sorry?"
"Never mind." I jumped in to the gap between the rails and hurried down to the cars. The rails began humming and the tram picked up speed. My heels scraped the floor, kicking up dust. "Lusia…? Lusia!" Floodlights snapped on. "Lilli, stop the car!" I belted back to the platform, hauled myself over the lip, and rolled. The tram skimmed the material on my shoulder. "Dammit, Lusia!"
"Sorry, sorry. Are you hurt?"
"Nearly got pancaked again—yeah, good. How are you?"
"Sorry. That's from me and Lilli."
"Grgh! Bet she's the life and soul at parties." I entered the tram and flopped on a seat. "Can you take me on to Medical?"
"Certainly. I've never been, honestly."
"What, a party? I've been to one. Night before I shipped out."
"If you've seen our budget, you'd know wild parties are the absolute last frivolity we could afford."
The cars' doors sealed and the acceleration shifted me on the seat. "You've got the Archmagos though."
"Ha! You try enticing the board with your inventions. If our designs aren't accepted with a contract laid out, we don't get paid. I feel like clocking them all over the head with a mallet sometimes."
The tram's motor rose to a wail. "Err, Lusia…" I wrapped both arms around an angular support. The lights zipped past the windows far faster than they normally did. "Lilli, slow down!" Brakes squealed. The momentum threw me from the seat. "Argh… God." The doors parted, dropping my shoulder over the narrow gap between the car and the platform.
"This should be you, James."
Medical L – 01. "Yeah." I clutched my arm against my chest. "Thanks."
Smoke filled the warden's office outside the ward. Sparks shot from a cogitator. Members of the Urgraf trauma team hauled wounded unable to walk out of the ward and set them down in rows. None wore Cadian khaki. Walking wounded—those still recovering from wounds sustained on Henna-Morata—crowded the floorspace where there were no stretcher-cases. "Hey!" I grabbed an Urgraf letting loose with a fire extinguisher just inside the ward. "Where's the captain?"
"Through there." The Urgraf flicked his nozzle at the fires engulfing the far end of the ward. "You'll have to go 'round the other way. Watch for stretcher cases coming out."
"Right. Thank you."
Red-faced, teary-eyed Urgraf packed both sides of the circuit corridor. Grey smoke stung my eyes. "Coming through!" Alec Korne bore the front end of a stretcher and another Urgraf held the rear aloft.
"Korne, the captain?"
"Down the far ward, James. Last door on the left. Come on, make room!" Korne trudged past.
"Get going." I slapped the Urgraf carrying the rear of the stretcher on his shoulder and pushed my way through the crowd. "Susannah? Susannah!"
Sparks snapped from a large tube with a hold at both ends. Seroni Bukharin, at the head of a fire-fighting party, doused the machine in clouds of CO2. I shoved Urgraf aside and seized Seroni. "Where's Susannah?"
"Fight the fires or get out of my medbay!" Seroni, sweat coating her face, shook free of me.
"Lusia?" I backed out of the ward. "I need—I need the sprinklers on in the medbay—Med Level 1."
"The blasted ship is throwing up barrier after barrier. It's hellbent on keeping Lilli out of the core systems."
"Okay…" I wiped my sleeve on my face. "What about a kill-all switch? Something that cuts power to everything?"
An Urgraf staggered out in to the corridor and dropped his fire extinguisher. The heavy steel clunked upon the deck and rolled in to my toecap. Bent double, the Urgraf coughed. "Get out of here." I pushed the Urgraf away. "Go on. You've done enough." The fallen extinguisher in my hands, I joined Seroni's team and let loose until the canister emptied entirely. Skin smarting, I set the can down in the corridor and bent over clutching at my throat.
"You picked a fine time to show up." Her face shining, Seroni left the ward and rested an elbow against the wall. "Eurgh-heurgh!" Seroni wiped the back of her hand across her mouth. Hairs stuck out at wild angles from beneath her soft cover.
"Ma'am?" Haber, as sweat-coated as Seroni, swung an extinguisher out to us. "Hoses are running low. We've put the fire around the mag-res out though."
"Good work, Jakob." Seroni blew in to a tissue.
"James?" Haber squinted at me. "Throne, man, you've soaked."
"Sprinklers on the fritz. Tell me where Susannah is."
"Err…"
"Office," said Seroni.
"Office-office!"
"Ta."
"I'll come unlock it for you." Haber lead me back to the office and tapped a keycode in.
"Any contingency plans you're following?"
"None set in stone. We'll be ferrying the worst cases over to the other ranks' mess halls; plenty of space there. It's all we can do for now."
"Thanks, Haber."
"Jakob."
"Jakob."
Stretcher cases covered the floorspace. Men and women with O2 bottles by their sides and clear masks fastened to their faces. A pair of pointed ears rose from behind a patient in a blue gown. "Hullo, Trip." I knelt and reached over and rubbed Trip's neck. "Keeping him company, were you?"
Violet eyes opened. "Enjoy your time with the captain, you bastard?"
"Hey, number ten." I ducked my head closer to Susannah. "Nice to see you too."
"The beast keeps good company. Susannah rubbed Trip's flank. "Knows when to shut up."
"So do I."
"Banging on about beaches and trees. Never heard so much rubbish in my whole life." Susannah's eyes narrowed and her cheeks stretched beneath the mask.
I poked Susannah's tummy. "Y'know, I'm having second thoughts about finishing that story. Not sure it tickles my pickle."
"Dick. I can think of many other four-letter words fitting you."
I rested my chin on my knee. "C'mon then. Talk smack to an officer."
Susannah hooked a finger. "Take those pips off, get down here, and I'll show you what Cadians are made of."
"Same stuff as a brick shithouse, I imagine."
"Hurgh-hurgh! Show me what you're made of, offworlder." Susannah made a fist and bumped mine.
"How 'bout a nice cheese?"
"Ah-ha-ha-ha." Susannah's chest convulsed. "Well, I'll take you down with a crispy cracker then."
"Don't trust the commander," I said in Susannah's ear. Her smile faded.
"There isn't anyone aboard I trust. Except maybe him." Susannah patted Trip.
"You didn't see me either, okay?"
"Okay. Do what you have to do. I'll keep Trip here."
"Stay safe." I let Trip lick my hand then stood up.
"James, don't trust Urgraf." Susannah's brows rose. "Don't."
"Not them I'm worried about. Trip, stay." Trip whined and laid his head on his paws.
Outside the office, Seroni bumped in to me. "If both your arms are operational, grab a stretcher and help."
"James, who were you talking to just then?"
"Not now," I hissed at Lusia. "Yes, ma'am."
Urgraf ferried the stretcher-bound aboard a tram. Smoke had drifted out on to the platform and coiled its way into the tunnels. "What's wrong with these sprinklers then?" An Urgraf said to Korne. Both carried an empty stretcher sideways under their arms.
"Alec? Alec, d'you know where the Obrist is?"
"Sorry, James, can't help you."
"Captain, the Obrist?"
"Pfft, CIC, how should I know?" Seroni bent her knees and set her end of the stretcher down inside the car. "Right, that's all she'll take."
I moved away from Urgraf and touched the comm bead. "Lusia, come in."
"Yes?"
"The Obrist might be in the CIC, that's the section behind the bridge, I think."
"Mm-hm. Lilli's observing now. She is certain that they believe they are under attack from the outside."
"Ask Lilli to jam any outbound comms."
"Already done. Are you in Containment?"
"Still at Medical. Urgraf are moving wounded over to the mess halls. I've got no way of reaching the cells from 'ere. Lilli, help?"
"Wait a minute. Lilli's still tussling with the ship."
"Golden Throne, did you know this would happen?"
"Well, I've never let given an Intelligence such free reign to do as she pleases."
"No regrets?"
"Let's call it a field trial, James, and leave it at that."
"Dammit." I leaned back against a pillar. The tram slipped in to the tunnel, the opposite direction of where I needed to go.
"James… you will not like hearing this."
"Oh, I'm all ears, madam. Hit me with your best bowl." I rubbed at my damp sleeve.
"Jump down to the tracks."
"What? What if a train comes?" I leaned over the edge of the platform. "Are you bloody insane?"
"High-functioning, thank you."
"How far is it to Containment?"
"Seven-hundred and fifty yards."
"Seven-hundred and fifty—!" I punched my thigh. "Lilli, you'd better 'ave those tracks cleared." I planted my hand on my breast pocket and knelt upon the edge.
"Lieutenant? Lieutenant, what the hell are you doing?" Seroni shouted. Heads turned and stretcher-bearers froze.
"Checking on the pris'ners, ma'am!" My feet crunched against the layer of dirt beneath the rails.
"You can't possible make it that way!"
I set off in to the darkness at a run. "If you don't have those trams under control, Lilli…"
"She likes you if that's any consolation, James."
"Oh, da-da-da-da-daahh! That's given me such a warm feeling deep down. You're a diamond, Lilli."
"Watch for cabling and rivets, James."
"What, you're worrying for me now?"
"Look, we…"
I twisted and had a look at the pinprick-sized circle behind me. "Hello? Lusia, what's going on?" A rat squeaked beneath me. "Eurgh, get off!" I flicked my boot, dislodging the fat rat. Vermin lined narrow cuts in the tunnel, shiny black eyes watching me. "Lusia, if you're pulling me leg…" Dust drifted up my nose. "Ah-chh!" A rivet in the floor caught my sole. "Lusia? Lusia how far have I got?"
Cables bound in clusters of three ran along the walls. A single bulb, held inside a thin bracket, turned green and rattled. "Lusia, what do I do?" A moan rolled down the tunnel. Wind picked up and grew to a howl. "LUSIA!" I pawed at the curving tunnel wall. Rats skittered away, their hairy bodies tumbling over one another. "LUSIA, WHAT DO I DO?"
Fire filled the tunnel. A whoomph blasted dust at me. Gritting my teeth, I cowered and held my arms over my face. Tearing metal ripped in to my ears. "LUSIAAA!" Black smoke rose from a tram car flung on to its side, an orange hue surrounding it. "Oh, no…" I ran along the tracks. "No, no, no."
Glass from the crumpled nose crackled underneath my heels. Flames crackled inside the twisted interior. "Mmph." I buried my nose in the crook of my arm. "Hullo…? Anyone in there?" A torn sleeve flopped across the aisle. "Oh, Lusia, what have you done?" I ducked beneath the nose and slid through the slim gap between the tunnel wall and the tram's magnetic connector. Sparks snapped from exposed panels. "Hello?" I found the crumpled edges of the doors and dug my fingers in to the gaps. "Argh, shit…" Blood ran down my wrists. "Umph." My feet scrabbled at the ridges on the car's underbelly and I pushed myself up. The tram I balanced on lay on its side with its connector broken and both cars separated at the joints. In beyond it, a second pair of cars sat at angle, both having been ripped from the rails by the impact. Fires burned on the platform of Containment L – 01.
"Hello?" I braced my knees on either side of a shattered window. Beneath me, several Urgraf in flak and ceramite lay in a pile against the opposite door, theirs arms and legs askew. "HELLO?" A yelp came from nearer the front-end. I brought my boot down on the broken glass. "C'mon!" I dragged my sleeve over my hand and used the material to hold on to the sharp edge. My feet thudded against an Urgraf chest. "Mmph, sorry."
"Ah—AGH!" An Urgraf flailed on the glass-strewn floor, his legs trapped beneath a broken seat. Fire tore up the material and spread downwards. I rushed to the bareheaded Urgraf and dug my hands underneath his arms and pulled. "NRRGH!" The Urgraf's body left the floor but his legs remained trapped.
"Grah!" I set the Urgraf down and scooped up a lascarbine lying on a seat. I pressed a button on the stock and slid it outwards. The rounded metal banged against the underside of the seat, deforming the cover and stuffing and knocking the supports out of shape. "Hold still." I slung the lascarbine and dragged the Urgraf free. Smoke rose from holes burnt in his trousers and boots. A foot pointed at a wonky angle. Glistening bone protruded from broken skin around the Urgraf's ankle.
"Hold on. I'll find us a way out." I climbed through to the second car and smashed the remains of the rear windows. I'll have to drag him to the platform. No way I'm carrying him. Booting the last of the glass out, I returned to the first car. Any of you alive? Dull eyes stared back at me from beneath helmet rims. Broken necks. God damn it, Lilli. I unzipped a med pouch on an Urgraf's assault vest and took a syrette from a thin container. "'Ere." I uncapped the syrette. "Hold still—ARGH!"
The syrette fell and rolled under a seat. Blood shone on the edge of a flick-knife. I swung the lascarbine's butt against the Urgraf's head. Bone cracked and the Urgraf fell against the edge of a seat. His eyes met mine and stayed there. Blood dripped from the knife, still held in his hand, and my left arm.
"Lusia? Lusia?" Lascarbine clamped under my right arm and the baton stuck inside an Urgraf belt, I shimmied beneath the derailed cars. A dressing coated my left forearm. Numb, bloodstained fingers twitched. "Lusia, I'm—I'm at Containment. Where are you?" I dropped the lascarbine's butt on the ground and flicked a switch attached to the lascarbine's handguard. "Please."
A fine mist covered the platform. Orange hazard alarms flashed but made no noise. I transferred the carbine to my left hand and mounted the platform. "Ow." I lifted the weapon to my shoulder and looked through a low-powered optic. An iron-sight was bolted to the top rail yet the aperture sat slightly lower than the red dot. "Ahh, God…" I shook my left arm and returned the weapon to my right hand and clumsily shouldered it and ran the torchbeam across the platform. "Lusia, if you're listening, I need all doors on Containment Level One opened. All doors on Containment Level One opened." How the hell are we supposed to spring the prisoners now?
My torch swept through the unlit corridor. "Lusia, if you can hear me, open every cell door on Containment Level One. I've gotta get these prisoners mobilised." Doors parted from seals and rose. "Lusia, I need ilume. It's pitch in 'ere." I ducked beneath a rising door and shone the torch in to an empty cell. "If you can't speak, gimme two short bursts of machine-lingo."
Crumpled sheets lay on mattresses. Hairs stuck to the thin material. Deck shoes sat on the floor in pairs and jackets hung on hooks. Every cell was the same. He did it. He actually did it. I leaned against the bulkhead and tilted my head back.
"James?"
"It's over, Lusia." My back slid down the bulkhead. "We're too late."
"What do you mean too—oh. Oh, no…"
"I'm so sorry for dragging you in to this."
"James, we—we have a situation over here. I'm sorry for going silent for so long but…"
"Lusia, just go. Get you and your friends off the ship. We're done."
"There was an officer."
"It's worse isn't it?"
"I'm sorry, James. An officer came upon us. He—he went for his sidearm. He was too far away to disarm."
I pressed my thumb and forefinger against my eyelids. "The Obrist?"
"A major, I think. We've bound the guards and the old man and hidden them."
"Are—are—are you hurt?"
"No, thank the Omnissiah. You?"
"Get out. Get out right now and don't wait for me." I planted my hand against the bulkhead and pushed myself away. "He actually did it. He actually did it—GOD DAMN HIM!" I bent double and pressed my elbows against my sides. My boot smacked against a door seal. I sucked air through my teeth and clutched my quivering hands against my chest.
"We'll wait for you as long as we can, James."
"Don't bother." I brought the slung lascarbine around to my front and transferred it to my left hand. "I'm dealing with him."
The glow from the burning cars dimmed behind me. Ahead, the pinprick that was Medical grew. "Oi, someone call the captain!"
"James?" Jakob Haber leaned over the platform's edge. "James, what happened down there? We heard the explosion."
"Trams collided." I ignored Haber's offered hand and climbed on to the platform. "Tell me where the Obrist is."
"I—I don't know. Is that blood?" Haber frowned at the blood on my fingers.
"Well? Anything to show for that stunt, Lieutenant?" Seroni laid a stretcher on the platform with her partner and came over. "Is that one of our belts?"
"Ma'am, five of yours dead in the tram nearest here. The other was empty. Tell me where the Obrist is."
"Just a moment, James. You've got blood on your hands," Haber said. "Will you let me have a look at your hands first?"
"James, go with Jakob. That's an order. No bleeders in my unit," Seroni said.
"James, d'you want to sit?" Haber patted a long and narrow crate marked with a white helmet and crossed swords. A letter U was printed beneath it. "Thank you for letting us know about the casualties, James. We'll send a party out to retrieve them as soon as our worst are out of here."
"Just caught some sharp edges is all," I muttered.
"The arm too?"
"Hrgh."
"That's alright. It's a good bind."
"Look, just gimme some plasters and I'll help you load the wounded."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah." I rubbed my right elbow. "I'm good, I'm good."
"James, they're on to us!"
I reached for the lascarbine's sticky grips. Lights approached the platform. Urgraf knelt by stretchers and lifted them by the handles. Seroni stood at the head of the party. "Standby to load! Two teams board at a time. One to each car."
"James?" Haber returned with a med-pouch. "Just hope they've got the small ones, eh? Can't abide wasting big plasters on papercuts."
"Where's that tram going?"
"Next stop should be the mess halls. Why?"
"Cheers, Jakob." I grabbed a handful of thin plasters and joined the tail-end of the stretcher party. The car doors parted and the Urgraf ferried the stretchers aboard. "Ma'am, ma'am?" I caught Seroni on the way out. "Any objection if I help unload these on the other end?"
"Go, just go!" Seroni waved her hand and shouldered past.
Keep Susannah and Trip safe. I squatted on a seat and wrapped the plasters around my fingers. Urgraf gave me funny looks on their way in and out, but not one said a word. Once the cars had filled with wounded, the doors closed. "Lusia?" The tunnel surrounded the cars. "Lusia, you there?"
A deep voice rasped in my ear. "Your friends were quite unwilling to discuss their presence on my ship. Perhaps you'd be more forthcoming now they are guests of Urgraf. Come down to the officers' mess hall."
A woman's shriek filled my ear.
"Agh!" I jerked the bead out.
"Quickly, quickly, my boy. I have three lovely ladies to entertain. Don't keep me waiting."
The bead fell from my fingers. I lifted my boot and brought the sole down to the floor, smashing the bead to pieces.
Fires raged on work surfaces and stoves. Alarms wheedled. Overhead, the sprinklers remained dry. Otus Jopnell's extinguisher coughed and squirted its last reserves of cooling foam. Heat bathed his left cheek and neck. "Ali, my tube's dry!"
Beside Otus, Ali Orto flapped his fire blanket. "Hey, Jamie, we've run out of foam!"
"Find another then!" Jamie Marlantes shouted from the other side of a partition.
"Go on, Ali." Jopnell seized the blanket from Orto.
"GAGH!" Mikel Tierden lurched back from a hissing fat fryer shaking his hand. "Spitting like fuck."
"Well run it under a cold tap then."
"Did that switch even do anything?" Tierden thrust his reddened hand in to a sink. A kill-all lever protruded from the tiled wall. Turning it extinguished the gas. It had not however put out the flames.
"Aahh…" Jopnell retreated from the edge of the inferno and found a cooler spot around the partition in a food prep area. "You okay, Jamie?"
"What d'you want, boiled or roast?" Marlantes held a pair of unpeeled potatoes up.
"Come on, Jamie, we're firefighters not bloody cooks. Drop the spuds!"
"Might as well be coughing on it." Marlantes' extinguisher gushed foam.
"You've got the easy job. It's a swelterer over my side."
Steam pots toppled and clanged against the floor, the noise ringing through the kitchen. "Ali?" Marlantes set his extinguisher down.
"Ali?" Jopnell peered at a section of kitchen bare of any fires, leaving it in shadow.
"Call Mik." Marlantes lifted his Merotech down from a shelf. "Otus, call Mik."
"What is it?"
"Ssh. AdMech." Marlantes touched a finger against his lips.
"Wha—where did Ali go?" Tierden swiped his own Merotech from where it leaned against the foot of the fat fryer.
"Mik!" Jopnell chopped a hand at his throat and signalled Marlantes to spread out. "Keep each other in sight." Jopnell clicked his Merotech's torch on and tracked it across the kitchen. Alongside Jopnell's, two other beams cut through the haze. "Ali?" Jopnell squeezed the mic clasped to his throat. "Give one click if you're in trouble, two if you're okay." Pans hanging from hooks knocked against one another. Spilt cooking oil stuck to Jopnell's heels.
"Oh—!" Marlantes's silhouette stumbled. Jopnell flinched and hunched closer to his Merotech. "Crap all over the floor." Marlantes toed a plastic measuring jug out of his way.
"Mik, anything?" Jopnell swept a washing-up station. Containers bearing cleaning chemicals sat on a shelf beneath the sink.
"Squat on my end. I'm covering the rear. No way anybody's getting through that inferno."
"Can you see us?" Jopnell stooped and shone his torch through a shelf supporting many large brown sacks. Floury flecks coated the sealed necks of the bulging paper. "Cupboard."
"Say again, Otus?"
The door to a floor-level cupboard stood open. Inside were containers of cooking oil carried in cardboard brackets. A torch caught Jopnell's back when he kneeled and pushed the door outwards with his muzzle.
"I've gotcha, Otus."
"Throne, it's tight in here."
"Hurgh-hurgh-hurgh."
"I thought better of you, Mik." Jopnell lifted a full container out. A furry ball squeaked and scurried away. "Eurgh, bloody rat."
"Right behind you, Otus," Marlantes whispered.
"It's just a rat, Mik." Jopnell nudged the door shut. In the row over from storage, a hand stuck out from under a table. "Shit. Ali." Jopnell pushed his muzzle under the table. "Yeah, Mik, it's Ali."
"Is he alright?"
"Jamie, hand here." Jopnell found the back of Orto's head and lifted it off the floor. "Can you get him out?"
"Is he alright?" Marlantes poked around for Orto's leg.
"Pulse. Can't see any bleeders anywhere. Ermph, pull!"
"Heavy son of a bitch, isn't he?"
"Mik, get over here. Ali's down."
"Down…? Is he hurt?"
"Stunned. Just get over here."
Flames whoomphed further back in the kitchen, flinging orange light across the white walls. "The oil!"
"JAMIE—" A body thudded against the tiles.
"Wait, wait." Marlantes aimed his Merotech at the corner closest to him. "You take right, I'll take left."
Jopnell headed to the end of the partition and exchanged a nod with Marlantes. "Go!"
Twin torchbeams roved through opposite sides of the food prep area. "Mik's down!" Jopnell's boots skidded on oily tiles. "Oh, shit." Tierden lay on his stomach amidst spreading flames. "Jamie, help!" Jopnell grasped Tierden's legs and dragged him backwards. "Jamie, where the fuck are you?"
A torchbeam spun and a Merotech thunked upon the tiles. Jopnell hauled Tierden away from the worst of the oil and squeezed his mic. "All Legion callsigns. All Legion callsigns, this is—" A black disk rolled towards Jopnell and flashed white. Bells whined in Jopnell's ears. His hands slackened around his Merotech's grips. "Aaahhh…" Jopnell stretched his jaw to its widest. "Aaahhh…"
Fingers swept Jopnell's beret off and grabbed a bunch of his hair. His Merotech fell and his boots scraped across the tiles. "Gaahh!" Jopnell slid backwards out of the light the flames cast. Hands hauled Jopnell's arm up and a knife blade settled on the membrane between his thumb and forefinger. Jopnell's clawed fingers dug in to his leg. Blood trickled from the severed membrane and oozed in to his sleeve. The bleeding hand then slapped Jopnell's knee, and the knife whipped through the membrane on his other hand. A jerk behind Jopnell's collar and his shoulder cracked against the hard edge of a worktop. A hand shoved Jopnell's head on to the smooth surface.
"P… P—please." A kitchen knife settled on Jopnell's little finger. "Please."
"See how you like it." Jopnell lurched back from the table and an arm wrapped around his neck. A Merotech muzzle pressed in to his side, just beneath the edge of his body armour. Blind and deafened, Jopnell lumbered away from the heat, blood running down his fingers. "A—A—Ali." A baton brushed his side. Jopnell yelped. Saliva left a sticky trail down his chin. The whiteness clouding his vision dimmed to grey, then blurry shapes formed. A corridor grew and a doorway widened in to a mess hall.
"FREEZE!" Assault team members in masks and ceramite lined the walls, each aiming their Merotechs at Jopnell. Three AdMech in red robes were bound to chairs in the centre. The Obrist and his two senior captains, Hutnik and Ostapenko, stood behind the captives. Surgical instruments, a scalpel, tongs, pliers, and a blowtorch occupied a metal tray.
"Jopnell. Otus Jopnell, Team Four?" The Obrist's grey brows cast his eyes in shadow. "Otus, you've let me down, son." The Obrist crossed the gap between the captives' chairs. "An Urgraf Quenet against a nobody."
"You let 'em go. They're not part of this." The Merotech's barrel flicked at the Obrist.
"You made them a part of this, Lieutenant." The Obrist jerked a knife from a tabletop. An eyeball trailing broken wires stuck to the point. "You've done me a grave disservice. She paid for it." The Obrist pointed the knife at the AdMech sitting on the left. Milky liquid seeped from a vacant eye-socket in a pale face. "What do you plan on doing now, Lieutenant? Ohhh, if only a gun could solve all problems. One shot—bang! You're the hero that stopped the tyrant. Gunned the old bastard down and saved the women's lives." The Obrist pried the eye free and flung it across the mess. "I am old, true. But like the hydra, you strike one head off and two more grow in its place. That's a very old legend. Older than time itself." Blue flame spurted from the blowtorch's nozzle. "Strike me down and another like me grows. Try your luck, Lieutenant. You are all alone. We are legion."
"Ob—Obrist," Jopnell blurted.
"Your time with us is over, Otus." The Obrist laid the blowtorch down and drew his sidearm. "Farewell from the family."
Jopnell's body jerked. Smoke shot in to his nostrils. His knees trembled and gave way beneath his body. His shoulder hit the deck and he rolled on to his back. A bubble of liquid rose in his throat. Above him, a slight, boyish-faced lad aimed a Merotech at the Obrist. Jopnell gurgled and pressed a bloody hand against his throat. The lad's forefinger moved inside the trigger-guard and rested on the firing stud. He spread his feet and leaned in to the weapon.
"Last words?" The Obrist tapped the wounded AdMech on the arm with the blowtorch's nozzle. "Any farewells or regrets, my dear?"
The woman's head rose. Milky tears shone on her skin. Red lips parted and a murmur surfaced. "F—fire."
"Old ears. I beg your pardon." The Obrist leaned closer. "Please do speak up. Let the lad's final moments be blissful."
"FIRE!"
The lad lunged for the far edge of a table and dragged it on its side. Flames rolled from hobs inside the kitchen and a wave surged through the hatch, blowing Urgraf off their feet. Air sapped from Otus Jopnell's lungs and fire enveloped him.