Early 36th Millennium, dawn of the Plague of Unbelief
Abalus
Gediminas District of Mancuso Hive
Lothair Spaceport
Mancuso Hive was a place of contrasts, like so much of the Abalus Reach in particular, and the Imperium of Man in general. And nowhere more so than in the Gediminas District. It was home to the newly constructed Astropathic Choir Chambers and the venerable Lothair Spaceport as well as the Dargis Ghetto.
The settlement of Mancuso on Abalus was originally a grand idea of the wealthy and powerful patrons of the world Lech, one of the three 'Brothers' of the Thulean Sector. An idea to build their wealth and power, an idea that needed men and women to make it possible, large numbers of bulk labour as well as skilled craftsman. Poor men and women flocked to the opportunity to leave their filthy holes of residence in the hives of Lech and build new lives for themselves. While the powerful of Lech supplied the official nomenclature for the growing settlement, the poor who populated the then growing settlement of Mancuso gave their own simple names to its locations. What the rulers proudly named Lothair Spaceport, the poor who had moved into the Dargis Ghetto simply named the Kosminės Uostas in their tongue, to name one example of the parallel growth. And so, the poor built new lives in the rapidly growing settlement which would become Mancuso Hive.
New lives exactly like those they left behind.
And the conditions of those lives bore fruit in the form of resentment which led to rallies for change…and to violence. Violence by the poor led to their 'compliance' through violence by the security forces of the powerful, creating a cycle. A dangerous cycle of violence curbed by violence broken by short periods of stability.
Crouched behind a standard transport box, with a Godwyn-De'az pattern bolter in her hands, Sirsay's cybernetic eyes locked onto the tell-tale signs of movement behind the barricade across the bay in the image projected to her by the pict-corder she had set upon top of the box. A glimpse of a helmet, a flash of movement visible through a crack. They are gathering again, she told herself. Gathering for another run at us like they did this morning. Her mind ran over all the recorded insurrections of the previous week…and all those others recorded during the history of Mancuso Hive. This has happened before and it will happen again, Sirsay rationalized, but knew she was lying to herself. This time was different and she knew it.
She glanced at the point of the wickedly curved Sarissa fastened to the end of her bolter and then to her immediate left at Draegoth. He was dressed in his black carapace armour, with a similar bolter in his own hands, and scanning the far ranks like she was. On past him were scattered a dozen Inquisitorial Stormtroopers, hiding behind transport sleds and such. To her right, another dozen Inquisitorial Stormtroopers crouched behind boxes and sleds and well off to her right was Gideon, the psychic null who had assassinated Inquisitor Matthias, lasgun in hands. Her cyber gaze lingered for a moment on the peculiar dagger on his hip, a gift from Draegoth. It was long and narrow, some form of punch dagger, and appeared to be made of the same black material as Draegoth's blade, but she could not think of a reason for a force weapon to have been given to the null.
A stray bullet passed over Sirsay's head. Two more followed it. They are coming now, she said to herself. I feel it. Her thought was answered by the roar of screaming voices.
She quickly raised her bolter over the edge of her crate and looked for a target. They were an oncoming horde, too many to count, some dressed in the typical clothing of day laborers and while others were dressed in the dark blue public works uniforms of the Gediminas District government. And most of them were unarmed. Workers were already dropping from the massed fire of Stormtroopers before Sirsay fired her first bolt. The shot hit a day labourer in the chest and exploded, his head and four limbs flying away from his disintegrated torso in a mist of blood. She fired a second shot to similar effect. And the repetitive fire of the Troopers continued dropping more and more insurrectionists, public workers and day labourers combined.
And then it was quiet, a scattered shot or two from the far side, but nothing more. No more horde trying to cross the distance. Countless bodies, and parts of bodies, were strewn across the bay floor and there was blood too. Some places there were pools and other there were streaks or spray patterns but it was everywhere.
I thought we'd broken them just then but they're gathering again, Sirsay realized as she stared at the far side of the bay. In seconds they will come again. She knew what was different this time from the others. Chaos is in the air. I feel it.
"We've got to move," said a voice to her left, Draegoth's. "We can't hold this area, much less force them to disperse." She glanced over at him. "We will run out of ammo before they disperse. In hand to hand, they will overwhelm us." He paused as he looked at her. "Can you summon anymore help?"
"It's the same everywhere," Sirsay answered as she continued scanning the far side of the bay. "All my agents are scattered, fighting similar battles along-side the local enforcers, if they are still alive at all. The Troopers from the League of Black Ships, plus the handful of Sisters of Silence on the ground with them, are scattered, looking for four score of psyker reportings."
"They were never going to be a help to us," Draegoth said. "Masina gave you nothing."
"Exactly," Sirsay said. "We need to pay her a visit." She glanced down the line of troopers. "Fall back," she snapped. "To the landers."
As if in response to Sirsay's words, a war cry rose again from the far side of the bay, a cry that dwarfed the previous one. The Troopers quickly flowed away from behind their cover and she followed, along with Draegoth and Gideon, leaving a handful behind. Through the image projected into her eyes, Sirsay saw the horde coming, saw the crazed look in their eyes. The wave of humanity flowing across the bay was endless, its numbers dwarfing the previous wave just as its cry had.
She ran.
In seconds she heard the first explosions from the grenades the Troopers had left behind with a set time. Screams of pain and anguish that were all but drowned by the continued roar of the wave. Sirsay felt their deaths in the Warp, cries of anger and to loved ones, deaths echoed across countless battlefields throughout Mancuso Hive. And she knew that the welling of such passion and suffering was drawing Daemons to the region, filling the Warp. All those psykers…Sirsay realized. The Neverborn will find them. Will an Exterminatus be necessary? She entered into a narrow, but well-lit passage.
More scattered fire erupted behind her from the lasguns of the trailing Troopers, a signal that the horde of insurrectionists had not been slowed by the charges left behind in the bay. An explosion, and then another. After a moment of near silence only broken in Sirsay's head by her own breathing, the roar of the horde picked up back.
"Keep moving," yelled on of the Troopers from behind. "Don't stop!" The second utterance was more distant and she knew the Trooper had stopped. Stopped to hold back the angry wave of humanity to buy a few seconds of time for her and Draegoth.
Sirsay came to an abrupt stop, nearly slamming into Draegoth in front of her, and was nearly overwhelmed by the immediate sense of nausea that set into her stomach when someone crashed into her from behind. Gideon, she quickly snapped in her head, angry he had not stopped sooner. Her mind quickly returned to the fore as the weight removed itself from her back and she heard concentrated lasgun fire there. The Troopers in front had stopped at the end of the passage, an opening into a launch bay for orbital repair and loading vehicles. The roar of the crowd behind her and lasgun fire from trailing troopers intensified.
"Two kilometres to the bay our lander is in," Draegoth said. "Four bays to cross. I think we're down to a single squad too."
"I can start and pilot most orbital models," Gideon said over Sirsay's shoulder. "Just lead the way," he added.
"Cover us," Draegoth snapped to the Troopers in front of him. "We're heading for that Arvus Lander."
"Yes, Inquisitor Draegoth," answered one of the Troopers, a Sergeant. The first four Troopers immediately broke out of the passage and took cover behind a transport sled and began firing. Two more immediately took position on either side of the exit and began a continuous rate of fire from their lasguns. "Go!" snapped the Sergeant.
Draegoth immediately ran out of the passage and to the Lighter with Sirsay following him and Gideon following her. Two more troopers followed them but one was dropped before they dropped down behind another transport sled. In another moment Draegoth was moving again to the Lighter. Sirsay followed him but was quickly passed by Gideon who reached the Lighter's hatch at the same time as Draegoth. The Trooper behind her continued to fire his lasgun, adding to the cover of the rest of the scattered squad.
"We'll keep moving and convert to guerilla tactics," said the Trooper to Sirsay as they reached the open hatch. He ran off away from the Lighter and she quickly ran up the ramp in pursuit of Draegoth and Gideon.
She made her way to toward the front of the Lighter, passing several crates on either side of her as she did. Draegoth standing just outside a hatch, bolter in his hands, with Gideon seated on the other side of the hatch in the single person cock-pit.
The machine spirit of the Lighter roared to life.
What is Gideon doing? Sirsay asked herself, not wishing to speak to him. He couldn't have possibly gone through the litanies so fast.
"She's ready and roaring to go," Gideon said. As if sensing Sirsay's unspoken question, he said, "I skipped the check-list. No time."
She felt the Lighter lift off the ground and then accelerate away. Looking to soothe her mind, she glanced down at a manifest attached to the crate at her feet and picked it up for inspection. ATTN: Send to Provost Chele Masina. Sirsay scanned the contents. Dresses? Shoes? She's ordering clothing while Abalus burns?
"Are you ready to confront one of your former mentors? Draegoth asked her.
