Im sorry for the rushed appearance of the other chapters, but now that I know where im going with this I hope it will be allot better, tell me what you think of chapter 5 here and I can improve even more on the others.
Chapter 5
Unwanted allies.
A black warm darkness cushioned him. Every side was black darken, he breathed darkness and drank deeply of it. The darkness felt good comforting, it embodied everything that a person could ever want, it was the womb of the universe and the more he understood it the deeper he was pulled into that darkness. But something was not right with it; there was just the smallest point wrong. At first that point was a thought a mere whisper of an idea but slowly that idea grew until it was a point of light, and the light grew faster and waster first a beam and then a blinding spot light flooding everything with a ghostly pale light, the light was cold and bitter and tasted of metal. There was sound all around the light a constant clamor of noise that he couldn't make out. Then with a rush like being dragged out of a deep ocean he was brought back into the world of the living.
Cameron sat bolt upright in his cot, or at first he thought It was his cot. As he looked down he saw it was white and crisp. His ragged and dirty body seemed out of place in it. He looked around the room. The whole place was white and sterile. The roof was white the walls were white even the dark blue floor had a white tinge to it. It was a medical bay but he hand no idea where it was or how he got here. Slowly he swung his feet over the edge of the cot wincing as scrapes of unhealed cuts and shrapnel ground around in his body.
He slowly let his feet touch the smooth sterile surface of the medical bay floor and panic infused his body as he felt the cold. He jerked his legs back up into the cot and reeled in terror thinking of another attack of the machine, things. But all there was was the floor and his bear feet. Where had his boots gone? He still wore his dirty and torn camouflaged pants but that was all.
Again he put his feet on the ground and fought the superstitious fear of the cold as he stood up. His legs felt weak and over used. His first few steps were wobbly and he had to grab a nearby table to steady himself in doing so he knocked off a place of scalpels that clattered to the floor noisily. But he walked on towards the door of the ward. Seemingly the only dark place in the room.
As he stepped through he was greeted by more cold steel under his feet but this time he could feel a thrumming, almost as if it was an artificial heart beat. It was constant but also out of rhythm. The outside of the medical bay was dark and cold, he could see his breath in the air as he looked around. The hall way was gun metal grey and all the lights were turned down. There were censers of incense on the wall at precise distances so that the whole place smelled of sweet hills filled with flowers.
Cameron turned left not knowing where to truly go. Still he felt the thrumming under his feet. As he walked his body fought him every step with either a pain or a crack of a joint but he pushed through. As he moved he looked down other smaller corridors seeing robbed men or women or maybe servitors shuffling about, all of them seemed like whispers on the wind only noticeable for a second, but as soon as you looked at them they were gone.
He didn't divert from his path, he didn't know why he didn't try and follow one of the robbed things but he had a gut feeling about this hall way. As he walked e swore he could feel the floor thrum harder and if he strained he could almost hear the beating of the source of movement. He pushed it to the back of his mind. Soon he came to a t junction in the hall way and decided to turn left again.
Now he was walking a bit faster with less pain and more of a purpose in his stride, he still limped and moved slowly but at least it was better than when he first started. As he moved he caught glimpses of the robbed things over and over again but never saw anyone that could be defined as a person, where was he? Finally when he was about ready to sit down he saw it. It was a huge steel door with gold runes and etchings in it. Before the door on either side of the door stood 2 giant grey statuses formed to look like space marines, Cameron had seen space marines before when fighting the tyranids on other planets but these seemed different some how. As he got closer he wondered in awe if maybe this was a space marine strike cruiser.
He reached the door and the 2 statues snapped out their arms. Both held long silver and golden glaives that where as tall as him. He wondered what to do now. Before he could say anything one of the statues spoke through a vox speaker in its neck joint
"State your name and business" the statue did not move but Cameron did not expect it to. He coughed to clear his throat and wondered where to talk to so he faced the statue and said.
"My name is Cameron you. You saved me from the planet below and I need to know what the hell is going on" Cameron sagged, the effort of speaking was hard enough as it was, his chest felt like it was full of nails, he wondered if he had broken a rib or 2. Cameron expected the statue to talk back but instead the 2 glaives snapped back to the sides of the statues and the giant gold inlaid door slowly rose with a tortured squeal.
Cameron stood looking as the door opened fully. Inside he saw a great chair on top of a high podium. Below the chair were banks upon banks of computers and monitors; at each one was a robbed thing and they were all working away with such diligence Cameron wondered if they even knew he was here. But dwarfing this all was a giant glass plate at the front of the room.
Cameron slowly took a step in and then another never taking his eyes off of the glass plate. As he neared it he could see more. What he saw was the blackness of space with the specks of stars that surely belonged to the emperor. But the blackness of the space was a halo around a planet on fire. At first he was shocked but then he was scared who had done this to a planet?
"I did this" said a voice behind Cameron. The voice carried an icy feel on it like the words were cold. Cameron spun on his heel and faced the chair. In it sat a man in flowing long robes, completely white and completely free of anything other than a black belt with a plasma pistol and a power sword and the medallion around his neck. The medallion itself was nothing special, but what it represented would freeze an orks heart. With was a green rectangle with the skull and I symbol.
"An inquisitor" gasped Cameron his eyes going wide in fear. He dropped to one knee or at least tried; instead he toppled over to the side and reopened a large gash across his chest.
"Stand Cameron your heart is not here to be judged, at least not yet." Cameron picked himself up as the blood from his gash slowly trickled down his chest.
"Why, why am I here then?" said Cameron motioning around the area.
"And what has happened to that planet?"
"Ah" said the inquisitor "you my friend and your silly counter parts have stumbled across something big here" the inquisitor said pointing with his finger in a relaxed manner at the burning husk of a planet. "Tell me Cameron do you know what a stc system is?" Cameron nodded
"Of course it's the most valuable thing in the imperum. It makes the weapons and stuffs the tech priests can't make."
The inquisitor nodded. "That's right and how do you think those machines were made" Cameron stopped and thought down on the planet he had never thought about where they came from,
"Ill tell you" said the inquisitor before Cameron could speak "they are from a faulty stc system that was somewhere down on that planet. We are doing this so we don't have entire galaxies of the daminble thinking machines." Cameron's eyes opened in shock.
"But where did it come from?" the inquisitor smiled
"Ah if only it was that easy, tell me have you ever heard of the race called the necromancers?" Cameron shook his head, still grasping his chest where blood was now drying and clotting.
"They are a scourge, a virus on humanity. Even the great inquisition does not know what they truly are. But we believe that planet was a faulty off shoot of the necrons."
"But what are the necrons?" said Cameron turning back towards the burning planet.
"The necros are, dead yet undead. They are thinking machines that believe death is the greatest thing that anyone can achieve. And since they are machines and already dead they cover the universe looking for other species to give their gift of death to."
"So what does that have to do with me?" said Cameron still looking down on the planet trying to see where Dillon had died.
"That puts you and me in a conundrum, you are not part of the inquisition but I believe your whole regiment." He checked a data slate on the side of his chair. "The, 93 "ork slayers"? Yes they seem to have been totally wiped out by the necrons before we even made it into the system. Frankly it's a miracle that you survived."
Cameron began pacing the room, looking over the shoulders of all the robbed things and looking at the streams of data flowing across their screens, almost UN readable to Cameron.
"So what happens then?" Cameron stopped at one of the banks as a rotating picture of the statues outside caught his attention.
"You are going to train with my men, it's highly unorthodox but I may have need foe someone that isn't part of the astretes." Cameron spun and looked at the inquisitor
"You mean im on a space marine ship?" the inquisitor smiled wrinkling his pale thin face.
"Not exactly you are now officially part of the grey nights" Cameron searched through his memory for the words grey nights.
"Those 2 that were outside the door they weren't statues." Said the inquisitor now standing up and walking down to the floor to Cameron's level.
"What? Then what were they?" said Cameron looking back out the door at the s statues.
"Well the one on the right is justicar Brendan, and the one on the left is grand master green." This was all too much for Cameron to handle. And the inquisitor seemed to sense this. He called over his shoulder.
"Justicar? Can you show your new squad mate back to the infirmary?" at his words one of the giant grey gods snapped to attention and walked in. Cameron looked up to him and nodded weakly. As Cameron was led out through the hall way the inquisitor called out again.
"Cameron I expect you training as soon as your wounds heal. We will be entering necrons territory in 2 weeks time." And with that the great golden door slowly closed down and sealed the chamber off. Cameron looked back up into the face plate of the iron warrior leading him away.
"What was up with him it felt like he was reading my thoughts and every movement?" The giant turned his head looking down on Cameron without breaking stride.
"That's because he was, you just encountered an alpha class psycher and the captain of the ship relentless. That was inquisitor Arron a man that you truly never want to cross." With this the warrior snapped his head back forward and marched on.
When they got to the medical bay Cameron lay back down on his cot and the warrior left. He had so much to think about, grey nights, necrons, inquisitors and his whole regiment gone. But he was drained so instead he lay his head back on the pillow and reentered that warm black womb, but this time it wasn't the d earthly embrace but instead an offset warmth like he was here not by his own choice but forced to be here instead, so like his life now.