"Normal speech"
"Gothic around non-Imperials."
"Mental Links."
"Ship Names."
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Anonymus: Thank you. You've got it in one, I won't give away my plans but yes that's the Imperial name for their war with the Ori. The Ori on the other hand just call it the Cleansing.
Goner1: Thank you very much. I will try.
War Ligia Obscura: More will be reviled, but its powers grow with every life it takes.
Attention Dearest Reader. I once again must apology for the lateness of this chapter. As you may or may not know from my previous begging for forgiveness, my laptop has slowly being trying to kill itself. Well, it has finally succeeded. Thus I present this rushed re-write from the borrowed (stolen) computer of my dearest brother. Enjoy the show.
And spare a thought for Comrade D6KYL2J. May it rest in a better place.
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O'Neil bit back a loud and crass stream of insults as he was once again roused from his sleep by a power armored boot. "What do you want?" He groaned, adjusting himself on the ground to regain some feeling in his legs.
"As the commanding officer here I though it prudent to inform you that Samuel has concluded his inspection of McKay." Vanem said, turning away from the frowning General and thumping back to his post at the door.
"Stupid Space Marines, no sense of timing or pleasantries." O'Neill mumbled as he got up.
O'Neill swept his gazer over the room almost passively absorbing the situation. Every one but the Marines, Levis and McKay were asleep; even the Eldar but that was probably just a ruse of some kind. He wouldn't trust her as far as he could throw her, even if she was bound by one of the adamantium chains which carried the Emperors Light's devastating torpedoes around rather than the rusty metal they'd scavenged.
Angelus grunted at O'Neil as he walked over to him. The Brother-Captain was, as always, annoyed at the situation. The continued down pour was beginning to grate on his patience and the transporters still couldn't get a lock on any of them preventing him from getting the Eldar back to the Ragnarok for interrogation. Worst of all was the fact that when standing all the Marines had to hold a strange hunched position or bend their faces to their shoulders to fit inside the cellar, which even for them was not the most comfortable position.
"Morning." O'Neil muttered, stifling another yawn as he drew up next to the hunched Marine.
"It is still night O'Neil." Angelus replied his eyes flickering over to Samuel who took the signal to pick up the conversation.
"Are you well rested O'Neil?" Samuel asked politely, sitting on one of the few barrels that could take a Marines weight.
"Meh." O'Neil grunted hopping to get back to sleep before he woke up completely.
"Right, as you know McKay here was taken over by a previously dormant C'tan which Levi assures us is currently subdued for now. Well asides from that he demonstrated a wild and deadly range of abilities that if my assumptions are correct are only the tip of the iceberg. The Necrodermis seems to have bonded to most of his neural system on a sub-cellular level and tendrils have infiltrated most of his body tissue. I can only guess as to the intricate chemical pathways that have been established and the Necrodermis is probably adapting new…" Samuel trailed off as he noticed the look Angelus was giving him.
"Samuel a summary." Angelus said prodding O'Neil who had one eye half open and was swaying on his feet.
"Fine, it's in nearly every major organ, muscle group and most of his bones. The upside as long as it keeps doing what its doing he should be quite hard to injure. The down side is, well we've seen that already." Samuel said sounding a little disappointed at being stopped mid-triad.
"And his appearance." Angelus prompted gesturing at the unconscious McKay.
"Ah yes, that's a real mystery. As you can see what Vultis described as sensory nodes have expanded into what resembles the shape of a Necron body. Vanem thinks it's some kind of internal program that the C'tan awoke but again we can't be sure. Although it has receded from earlier it is still tracing out his ribs on the right up to his sternum, his spine has been plated in a similar fashion and as you can see his right hand neck and jaw are covered in a twisting pattern. They still seem to be doing their original job but I wouldn't like to guess at what else" Samuel said pointing out the areas he mentioned.
"Is he dangerous?" O'Neil asked his hand reaching for his pistol.
"Levi says he should be back to normal but I don't know. It would be strange for a creature of such immense power to be destroyed so easily. Either way as a specimen of a C'tan he is now invaluable." Samuel replied.
"Okay, wake him up in a few minutes. I'd rather know if we have to turn him into Swiss cheese now rather than latter." O'Neil ordered walking away from the two Marines to awaken the other people so they could start making a fire and food. If he was going to be woken up early the everyone would be woken up early.
"You know the Eldar has been watching us?" Samuel asked keeping his face as nonchalant as possible as Ghen'Hòar tried to look uninterested in what was going on.
"Yes, I think she can understand us. When we leave I want her unconscious, one way or another." Angelus said with a nod before moving to collect the meditating Levi.
Ghen'Hòar chewed on the inside of her cheek, if she was discovered now she was dead. The humans were talking about some plan of theirs that seemed to involve the bizarre one that had massacred her squad. She paid it a little attention hopping to pick up some useful information but also to distract her from the pain in her wrists as she twisted them around to slowly bend her metal restraints.
A quick hiss from the Apothecary's Narthecium sent powerful stimulants cascading into McKay's body, forcing him awake. O'Neil, along with Angelus and Levi, aligned their weapons directly with McKay's head If it came to the worst they would fry the poor bastard before he knew what hit him, or they would all be torn apart by an enraged star god.
"Pi is not three!" McKay shouted bolting upright, startling the four men around his bed.
"I'm… I'm not even going to ask." O'Neil muttered, shaking his head and lowering his rifle.
"Levi." Angelus ordered, his paranoia requiring a little more soothing.
The blue armored Librarian raised his hand covered in flickering blue flames up towards McKay who just watched the display of Psyker power with intrigue.
"Nothing?" Samuel asked from behind McKay lowering his sedative loaded Narthecium.
"He appears to be himself." Levi said with a half smile as he left them to return to his meditation.
"What's the last thing you remember?" O'Neil asked curious on how much detail the scientist remembered.
"There was a silver copy of me and everything was getting very cold." McKay said rubbing his Necrodermis arm.
"Nothing else?" Angelus pushed looming threateningly over the human.
"No." McKay answered quickly, recoiling from the accusing glare of the Marine.
"Very well, Samuel explain." Angelus ordered.
The Apothecary sighed lightly to himself before turning to McKay. "You were possessed by a being we believe to be a C'tan and for lack of a better word butchered the majority of an Eldar squad."
McKay's lips puckered up as the realization he had made in his mindscape came flooding back. He gulped heavily as the image of his alter ego flashed through his head, its insane laughter echoing for a while.
"Levi managed to restrain you but not before you did some serious damage." Samuel continued in his friendly tone.
"I see and why I'm I still alive?" McKay asked. He knew, hell it was pretty obvious what the standard Imperial response to his possession should be. Nullify the threat at all costs.
Angelus nodded, he hadn't pegged McKay as being so ruthless. "As the only sample of a C'tan we run into in the last couple of months you are now the most valuable human alive in the entire Expeditionary Force." The Astarte said plainly.
"Well, thats good to know." McKay said glancing down at his arm.
"Don't worry McKay; Levi believes that you should now be free from the C'tan." Samuel said hoping to cheer up the mopping man.
"Just get some food in you." O'Neil said motioning towards the start of a fire at the cellar entrance.
"Sir, yours is almost done." Carter called out quickly drawing O'Neil away.
"That smells terrible." Levis moaned as he was handed a plate of rations.
"Don't complain and just eat." Ommarin scolded him before devouring her own ration Everyone else followed suit.
"Still can't get a signal." Sheppard said sounding disheartened as he withdrew his hand from his ear.
"It would be wise to accertain our supplies then, wouldn't it." O'Neil commented shooting a glance at the four riflemen who just sighed and went to work.
Ghen'Hòar twisted her wrists again, bending the metal to a greater degree. She bit her lip to prevent from crying out as the rusty metal continued to grind through her suit and skin. There was a light moan and the metal finally parted enough for her to slip her hands out. She frantically looked around at her captors but none of them seemed to have noticed the light noise either to busy eating around a small fire at the entrance of the cellar or going through their supplies that lay spread out on a table, not even the Wraith was watching her now. The strange one that was called McKay was sitting back from the others, several paces from her, while staring at his hand, an involuntary shiver ran up her spine at the though of the damage he had caused.
Drawing her legs up faster than lightning Ghen'Hòar set to work easing the metal ring open. Again she slowly twisted the metal hoop open taking great care to stifle any noise from it and her. With her hands free it came away easier than before but the jagged edges left her hands covered in cuts and deep lacerations. Slowly she drew herself up, the dark green of her armor blending in with the deep shadows cast by the torches. Taking a deep breath she lunged towards McKay.
O'Neil picked out one of the many las rifle power packs that were merrily sitting in the fire. Bouncing the hot piece of metal between his hands for a second he placed it next to the other charged ones. It was annoying, not to mention quite painful, to have to pick the damm things out of the fire but the ability to be charged by simple flame was a impressive achievement. A startled yelp came from behind him and in a single fluid motion his P-90 was both in his hand and leveled at the torso of a surprised looking McKay who was being used as a meat shield by the female Eldar. God damm academics, hardly worth the trouble they caused, well except for Cater but then she would ramble on and on.
McKay gasped down another breath as the Eldar's strangle hold on his neck tightened. He could see every weapon in the room leveled at him aside his own pistol, which was currently imbedded in his lower back. He tried to will his arm to take the shape of a spear or some other weapon he could detach the Eldar with but the Necrodermis refused to respond. Suddenly he winced as the gun barrel was forced deeper into his back.
"Move aside and I'll release him." Ghen'Hòar said, in English with a hint of a Mediterranean accent.
Several of the SGC personnel lowered their weapons and looked at O'Neil for a diplomatic solution unfortunately the I.G.L. and Marines had a different idea.
"Drop McKay and the weapon or Levi will annihilate you." Angelus growled drawing his power sword the ancient blade's destructive field shimmering into life with a low hum.
"No, he is important to you. He is necessary for something." Ghen'Hòar almost shouted tightening her hold around McKay's neck till he began to choke.
O'Neil swallowed heavily, tightening the grip on his rifle as did the others; sparks began to dance in the psychic hood of the Librarian next to him and somewhere a chain sword purred into life. A green light suddenly assaulted his vision and everything went to hell.
McKay finally lost his battle to stay awake as the crushing head lock Ghen'Hòar had him in got even tighter severing the last trickle of air. The C'tan that had retreated to the far corners of McKay's mind to escape the warp was suddenly dragged to the surface as McKay's own subconscious sought to defend its self from death.
Ghen'Hòar suddenly felt very cold as the warmth in the air seemed to vanish. The silver arm of her hostage slowly ignited with the same dreaded green hieroglyphs as before. The human that had fallen still just a second ago grabbed onto her arm that encircled his neck.
"What's the matter? Kind and gentle Meredith can't handle it. Useless. I'll take care of us just like last time. Still this is a nice little abattoir." The C'tan said in a slightly less distorted version of McKay's voice as his flesh hand tightened around its former captors arm.
The hand tore Ghen'Hòar's arm away from the human's neck before a silver elbow connected with her ribs. Ghen'Hòar stumbled backwards holding her hurt ribs. Faster than she could gather her senses a silver hand was wrapped around her mouth and the twisted face of McKay shoved right into her own. Once again McKay's false eye was ablaze with the emerald fire of the Necron and silver tendrils were slithering their way from his neck up to his face.
"I guarantee the worst is yet to come." He whispered almost gently, in the distorted voice that the C'tan used, his merciless eyes burrowing into Ghen'Hòar's.
Ghen'Hòar eyes widened as the metal of McKay's hand began to spread across her face the tiny lines of silver burrowing into her skin while the C'tan's eyes continued to radiate a cold malice. Too terrified to even scream in fear of the metal flooding down her mouth she continued to struggle against the insane human. Suddenly she was released from the C'tan's grasp, all the Necrodermis retreating back into McKay as she clattered to the floor, absolute and unreasonable terror gripping her. Bullets screamed through the air pulverizing the stone above her, showering that side of the room in dust and stone fragments.
"Corner him! Levi get ready!" Angelus shouted, firing a burst of bolts that prevented McKay from moving towards them.
"Not this time." The C'tan hissed as the bullets and bolts slowed to a dead stop in the middle of their flight while the streaks of red las continued to advance at a pace which a snail would sneer at in contempt.
"What the fuck?" O'Neil questioned as more of his bullets slowed to a stop.
The air in front of O'Neil rippled for a second before a fist connected with his chest sending him flying into one of the walls. Angelus whirled around his power sword on a direct course for McKay's head. Just before the deadly field made contact with McKay the blade stopped dead in the air as if it had hit some immoveable object. Angelus's eyes widened slightly as the sword refused to budge. Suddenly the black armored Marine was spinning through the air like the cast aside toy of some capricious child before impacting into Samuel, sending the two super-humans skidding across the floor. The four I.G.L. riflemen were blasted into Levis as if by some great wind before they could even turn to face the rampaging C'tan as McKay nimbly ducked under the swing of Levi's force sword. Ommarin spun gracefully on her heel bringing down her sword in a vicious arc that would have easily eviscerated McKay if it connected. The sword made a dull sound as it impacted on the Necrodermis hand, sinking into the silvery metal only to stick fast. Fear flashed across Ommarin's face as she frantically pulled on her sword, the C'tan drew itself up to full height.
"Be afraid. Be very afraid." The C'tan whispered excitedly as it reveled in the feelings of despair and defiance the cattle were excreting, it had taken a liking to the subtle mixture of hope, fear, bravery and hate. Sheppard received a surprisingly powerful kick to the stomach, knocking the wind out of him, as Carter suddenly sunk up to her waist into the stone floor.
An explosion sent McKay stumbling to the side, releasing Ommarin's blade. Vanem's bolter barked again as another trio of explosive bolt detonated on or near McKay. The Tech-Marine's servo harness swung around with the force of a small truck and connected with the right side of McKay's ribcage. With a sickening crack McKay was sent sprawling across the floor. He skipped to a stop and Davidenko jumped onto his back pinning his arms to his sides.
"Levi now!" The Tech-Marine shouted as he moved to pin down McKay with the Russian Major.
The Librarian lunged towards the prone McKay but the body vanished into thin air just before he could reach him, leaving Davidenko to drop to the floor with a surprised grunt. Levi sent a blast of warp power through the room, the effect was immediate. McKay reappeared with a suppressed scream, his Necrodermis hand clamped firmly around Angelus's face. The right side of his face was encased in the Necrodermis up to the hairline, ear and nose; the living metal had formed itself into the blank death mask that all Necrons wore, giving McKay an appearance disturbingly close to a Necron. A similar transformation had occurred under his clothes as the C'tan's Necrodermis shell tried to return to what it was programmed to take as its standard shape.
Angelus could feel the Xeno metal begin to vibrate against his skin, realizing that it was going to unleash the same kind of attack as before. The Space Marine Captain brought his sword around his waist hoping to bisect McKay before the C'tan could kill him. Suddenly a red blur smashed into the C'tan's side and it let out an extremely loud and pained scream.
Davidenko tackled the possessed McKay to the ground, red sparks dancing through her hair and across her clothes. The C'tan continued to screech in agony as the warp linked human pinned its Necrodermis arm to the ground, the outlet for its sonic weapon pressed firmly to the ground. The blood red halo faded from around Davidenko as she continued to struggle with the thrashing and wailing C'tan just as the sonic blast passed into the stone floor sending a spider web of cracks and fissures streaming in all directions.
Levi clamped his hand around McKay's writhing head and a moment of concentration latter the Librarian's mind surged into that of the unfortunate doctor.
As soon as Levi entered the mental world of McKay, which was still his lab back on Atlantis, he was forced to his knees. It was as if a thousand ton elephant had decided to park itself on his back with no intention of leaving.
"Fitting that such a lowly being should kneel before me." The strange voice of the C'tan drifted through the world reverberating of the walls disorientating the Space Marine.
"Cease this and you will survive." Levi whispered slowly struggling to his feet centuries of mental training being drawn upon, just so he could stand in the presences of the star god.
"Why? I'm more powerful than you." The C'tan asked, appearing in a swirl of green mist in front of the Librarian.
"If you don't we will destroy you out there." Levi countered, hoping to keep the C'tan focused on their conversation as he gathered his power.
The C'tan let out a short burst of insane laughter that sent a cold chill running through the battle hardened Marine. "Just try. I know that those fools Meredith considers friends wouldn't. I know you would." It said with a happy smile. "But soon even you wouldn't be able too. My power has almost returned and then I will smash your fleets, trample your armies, raze your worlds; even your nightmares would flee from my shadow. I have already won!" It sneered triumphantly, assured in superiority over all other forms of life.
"What of McKay? Surely he could stop you?" Levi prompted mercilessly dragging out the conversation as more and more power flooded into him from the Immaterium.
"Meredith?" The C'tan questioned with an amused snort. "Before I destroy your mind I'll show you." It said snapping it fingers.
The central table was replaced with McKay sitting behind a pitch black grand piano playing some simply yet beautiful melody his eyes closed and a serene smile on his face. He was dressed in what Levi assumed was a form of Terran formal wear, the sleek black jacket and trousers along with the crisp white shirt made him look like a baby Dread Bird from Nova Pel (imagine giant man eating penguin which lives on the frozen second moon of Nova Sol. Oh, just so you know it's a tuxedo).
"As you can see I've created a nice little dream for him. He'll never miss reality." The C'tan said gesturing at McKay, the dark orbs that radiated infinite terror and knowledge never leaving the Librarian.
"That's nice." Levi said politely smiling gently before lunging at the C'tan.
The silver copy of McKay attempted to jump back from the assault but Levi's armored hand dug into the C'tan's body before it could dodge. As soon as his hands clamped down on the struggling C'tan's body hundreds of thick golden chains sprung from the ground and twisted themselves around the surprised star god, tightening mercilessly.
"Ha! You think this will hold me?" The C'tan screeched as it struggled to break free, a few of the gold chains snapping and falling away.
"McKay wake up!" Levi shouted as more of the chains fell away only for a few to be replaced with new, albeit thinner, chains.
"He can't hear you." The C'tan said smugly as its left arm broke free from the intertwined chains. The silver appendage shot out and started to choke Levi.
"McKay!" Levi shouted desperately as he and the star god fought a titanic mental duel.
Suddenly the piano stopped and McKay sprang upright, his body tense and sweat starting to form on his face. He started to look around frantically before his startled gaze came to rest on the struggling blue and silver figures.
"You! What are you doing back?" McKay shouted at the C'tan as a larger chain shot through the C'tan's leg making it shudder I pain.
"Keeping us alive." It spat back, tightening its grip around Levi's neck as the chains holding its body started to fall away faster and faster.
A noise like chairs being moved around came from behind McKay, the scientist whirled around expecting some new horror or bizarre mental imagery. Seated in front of him and the piano were all his friends dressed in the finest dinner wear, they resided in a massive and lavish auditorium awaiting him to resume playing. Everything was illuminated by the scene of battle behind him; the auditorium itself was completely dark.
"Continue the song." The mental projection of Sheppard said in his blank faced monotone. His tone rested somewhere between a request and an order.
"Yes, come back and play." Teyla continued in the same manner as Sheppard as some of the golden light slowly came back to life in the huge hall.
"This is what you want." Davidenko added gesturing at the piano as more of the auditorium came to life.
McKay started back into his seat at the night black piano, the look of serenity back on his face. A low growl and a disturbingly insane giggle stopped him just before his fingers hit the keys again. Tearing his vision away from the dreamscape and his blank faced audience he turned to face the two combatants.
"Stop it." Levi gasped out, looking McKay straight in the eye.
McKay sprang forward towards the warring C'tan and Librarian. The C'tan screeched in anger as McKay got closer and fought more frantically to free itself of the binding chains breaking more of them than ever before. Levi collapsed to his knees his hand still holding onto the C'tan as it brought forth even more power, but Materium seemed to triumph over Immaterium. Glancing over at the approaching McKay the C'tan sent the mind of its host smashing into one of the walls before returning to destroying its Psyker opponent. Levi locked eyes with the C'tan and their battle intensified to the point were McKay's metal world began to twist and tear as the two beings unleashed god like amounts of power. Levi noted McKay getting back up and he pushed the last of his power at the C'tan.
Reeling from the last blow the C'tan only just noticed McKay's second approach. Before it could free its other hand to fend McKay off the scientist reached them. Unsure how to fight a mental battle, he took the idea from the only other time he had heard of peoples minds being invaded; taking a page from the Replicator book on mind fuckery he plunged his left hand into the C'tan's forehead. Surprisingly rather than breaking all his fingers McKay's hand sunk up to the wrist into the star god's forehead. The C'tan stopped struggling its merciless black and green eyes drifting from Levi to McKay, its strangling hold on the Librarian loosening.
Levi felt the pressure vanish from the mental world as the C'tan went limp inside the chain cocoon. "Fool." It whispered just before the mental world shattered like glass and the three figures vanished.
McKay eyes fluttered open, squinting into the cruel white of the torches he swallowed heavily as a bolter, bolt pistol, two P-90s and three las rifles were aimed directly at his head. Lying across him was Davidenko with Samuel running his Narthecium over the lightly breathing woman. There was the sound of armored plates scraping against each other and a pained groan from behind the prone physicist and everyone but Angelus lowered their weapons slightly.
"Are you sure?" Angelus asked.
"Yes, I have trapped the C'tan with a demon exorcism technique. I have no idea how it will react, it may be consumed by the warp, bound to him or banished beyond our reality. If it is bound to him as long as he doesn't deliberately undo the trap it will stay dormant and when McKay goes to the Emperor it will be dragged along to face Him at the end." Levi gasped out slowly as he unsteadily got to his feat, while small trails of smoke and steam rose from his head and psychic hood.
"Adequate for now." Angelus said with a small nod. "We're leaving this place, the floor has become unstable." He ordered, holstering his bolt pistol and retrieving his Power sword from the ground.
"Can someone help me?" O'Neil asked as he strained on Carter's arms to get her out of the floor.
"Prisoner secure." One of the riflemen said, forcing Ghen'Hòar forward with the tip of his serrated bayonet.
"Vanem, help O'Neil. Sheppard, Ommarin assist Samuel moving McKay and Davidenko. You four." Angelus commanded pointing at the riflemen. "Secure the door. Wraith, if the Eldar tries to escape you may feed on her." He said with a cruel smirk at the alarmed look on Ghen'Hòar's face.
"Sir I think the floor is giving way." Carter said with alarm as the stone around her started to crumble and shift.
"Not now Carter, we've almost got you out." O'Neil said lifting her by the waist as Vanem pulled under her arms.
"Sir!" Carter shouted as the entire floor around her gave way and she came shooting out sending her and O'Neil tumbling to the ground.
Vanem looked down for a second as the disturbingly thick cracks flowed under his feet with a disheartening groaning as the old stone shattered. "I hate this place." He moaned before the friction gave way to his massive weight and he fell through the foundation.
"Ah shit." O'Neil griped as the hole Carter had occupied a second ago reached him and Carter, sending them after Vanem.
The dark void spread across the floor engulfing the Imperials and Ghen'Hòar in the blink of an eye. An eerie silence filled the now floorless room the sonly sound the constant heavy thud of the rain outside punctuated by the occasional wave of rolling thunder.
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The low hum of active machines filled the air and the oppressive smell of old air washed over his senses. McKay tried to sit up but found he was already upright; nervously swallowing the last of his saliva from his suddenly dry mouth he started scanning the darkness to see if he could find one of his friends or a light source. Some distance away he could make out the faint glimmer of golden light. Feeling out with his hands to make sure he didn't trip over anything or walk into a wall he made a start towards the light source. Suddenly the golden light seemed to jump closer, with a sharp intake of air McKay stopped dead as the light source made another instant jump.
McKay steeled himself as the light source made another jump only a few tens of meters away. A gurgle escaped his lips as a silver hand wrapped around his neck desperately trying to squeeze the life out of him. The C'tan was wrapped in the same thick golden chains as before only its left arm free of the binding metal. The chains trailed off into the darkness behind the C'tan and were attached by a series of massive spiked hooks that were deeply imbedded into the C'tan's body at random intervals distorting its features into a grotesque mockery of McKay (Imagine the final scene from Hellraiser 1). A furious and desperate copy of his own face glared hatefully at McKay.
"Don't think you can keep me in chains with such a pathetic trick." It whispered as its feet crumbled into dust and were swept away by some unfelt wind back the way it had come the golden chains being pulled taught in time with the crumbling C'tan.
"The instant I touched your mind I was unleashed. That foolish Psyker thinks he has tamed me, but this is only a temporary thing." The C'tan continued tightening its hold on McKay's throat as the line of disintegration slowly moved up its body.
"Do what you will, keep your friends close. Let them comfort you. Let them fight your battles. Throw yourself upon their frail tethers. However, the longer they entangle themselves around one such as us, the more they expose themselves to our never ending hunger. And then one day we will rip them apart and overwhelm that thing you call a soul with sorrow." It continued grinning in anticipation even as its torso and right arm started to vanish.
"At that moment, no one will be able to stand in my way. You will be swallowed whole by me. And on that day soaring with desire and ecstasy I will lift my head higher than the stars and tear away that false light which burns me. For now, so be it. I will deign to obey your whims. Within my ancient depths, from the bottomless darkness, I shall whisper lightly. Revel in your pyrrhic victory, my tyro. I await your harvest." The C'tan said its voice dripping malice and spite with a hint of longing as a few lines of green Necrontyr hieroglyphs flowed from the Necrodermis onto McKay.
"Keep me in chains! Suppress me! Ignore me! Forget me! We cannot reach each other for now, so I will store my power. And then; one day…" The C'tan roared as it finally disintegrated into dust and was carried away leaving the last ominous sentence unfinished.
McKay bolted upright; he was in pain, lots of pain. Something burned in his mind and his body craved for some unknown substance like a hardcore junkie suddenly going cold turkey. A new and disturbing sensation washed over him; suddenly the burning and pain exploded far beyond what they were a second ago. Looking around in the pool of light from the last unbroken torch he tried desperately to find the source of the pain before he started to scream, his search came to a halt when he saw the Eldar female had regained consciousness as well but was staring at him in fear.
Ghen'Hòar watched the human, if that was what he truly was, terrified of what it might do next. She knew that fear was unbefitting of her but never before had she faced something like this. Sure the Wraith were know for occasionally toying with their human prey but they could be dealt with. A creature that could move outside of time, control matter, throw around sonic death waves, had living metal appendages and seemed to be near indestructible was beyond her. She wouldn't dare move; it seemed to take some abstract pleasure in toying with its prey. As if he was some great predatory beast.
McKay let out a low groan as the pain flared higher as more and more people started to awaken, vomit surged into to his mouth as his body took the only action it could and tried to purge whatever was causing the pain. Clutching a hand over his mouth he thought he heard distant laughter for an instant, suddenly he felt the pain fading away but the odd sensations remain. He looked down to inspect his body for injuries in case he was going into shock or something all he found was his Necrodermis hand wrapped around Levi's plasma pistol, the normally glowing core faded and dull.
"Disappointing." A voice lined with malevolence whispered, seemingly from beside McKay.
"Hello?" McKay questioned into the dark room, trying to find the source of the voice.
"Shut up McKay." O'Neil's voice snapped back followed by a pained groan. "Stupid ground." He muttered.
"Vanem, were are we?" Angelus asked, his voice sounding tired after a long day of good battling and falling uncontrollably.
"I believe we are below the ruins." The Tech-Marine replied candidly from deep inside the cave.
"I know that." Angelus growled not in the best of moods. "I mean what is this place."
"Looks like the control room from Atlantis." Vanem replied quietly more interested I the caves contents rather than answering.
There was a loud crack followed by some cursing in Gothic and suddenly the roof of the cavern lit up with hanging orbs of bright white light. The floor they had fallen through made up about a fifth of the entire ceiling. The walls were made of metal with similar patterns to the walls in Atlantis and against most of it large benches were set covered in Ancient terminals and large screens. In the centre of the hall there was a platform large enough for a single man to stand on. However the strangest device sat at the far wall a large metallic green dish shaped device covered in white lights faced up at the ceiling with a pure onyx black Dodecahedron (you know one of those funny dice with 12 faces) floating in the centre, along the wall to either side were three upright sarcophaguses that looked like the stasis tubes used by the Ancients. Several large tubes and wires twisted along the ground and walls before attaching to the large dish shaped device. On the left wall a large stone slab, its upper half covered in twisting golden lines with the blockish Ancient language just below, was hung inside a thick protective case. The entire lab seemed to be coming alive again as the terminals booted up.
"Fancy." Sheppard said his eyes instinctively searching for a ZPM. A year of frantic searching instilled some habits.
"I wish Daniel was here." O'Neil said forlornly, scratching his head as lines and lines of Ancient poured down across one of the smaller screens.
"Samuel, secure McKay." Angelus shouted as the Apothecary unburied himself and the unconscious Davidenko.
"Angelus I need to address any more damage that Major Davidenko has sustained." Samuel answered shooting a look at the almost exhausted Levi.
"Death dealing god of pain and fear first; half Replicon, half Psyker women second." Angelus instructed, refusing to even recognize how odd the sentence sounded.
With a sigh the white armored Space Marine made his way over to the happy looking McKay. "McKay?" He questioned hand on his bolt pistol.
"I'm fine Samuel although you better restrain her again." McKay said, happy to have Ancient technologies to pull apart again while gesturing at Ghen'Hòar who was slowly moving away from the Imperials.
The resulting fight was short and sweet. Ghen'Hòar capitulated after about two punches and kicks that had almost no effect on the heavily armored Space Marine. Deciding it was better to not have her bones snapped while not even trying to escape, she quietly surrendered to the Marine. Another, stronger, set of restraints were fashioned from several barrels this time by the increasingly depressed and disillusioned Vanem.
"McKay, do your thing." Sheppard ordered as he along with O'Neil and Angelus stared deeply, almost hypnotically, at the black Dodecahedron which seemed to suck them in.
"Right." The scientist said gleefully as he and Carter set upon the terminals in a frenzy of techno-babble.
"These things look creepy." O'Neil said, tapping the almost opaque ice like stasis field boundary.
"They're harmless." Sheppard said, moving across the floor towards the central platform.
"I more concerned about that floaty thing." O'Neil muttered, pointing am accusing finger at the object of his ire. Knowing his luck it would sprout legs and attack him while ever body else just watched.
"I could be what we're looking for." Angelus said, watching the strange object like a hawk.
"Sir, you may want to see this." Carter called across the room.
Quickly the majority of people were crowded around Carter asides from Davidenko who had just woken up but seemed to only be a little disoriented and Samuel who continued to treat her. Levi was too exhausted to move for while, the four I.G.L. riflemen who stood guarded over the now thoroughly intrigued and slightly confused Ghen'Hòar.
Sàdo'Kel had made these humans out to be bloodthirsty maniacs content to burn the galaxy for their own amusement. However while being ruthless, cold and militaristic a lot made sense if they were just desperate. The waves of troops that eagerly charged to their possible deaths, the massive assault on her downed ship, only two warships for what seemed to be an very important mission. Yes it all made some form of twisted sense. The talk of something called a C'tan, why they kept that insane one so close when he had almost slaughtered the lot of them only minutes before. The quick succession of attacks on long abandoned, highly dangerous and mostly useless Ancient installations. They were looking for something, what she couldn't even guess at but they were desperately looking for something. And that left only one probable conclusion, the Second Imperium of Man was on the losing end of greater war.
Looking back she shouldn't have been so flippant with the captured humans. Back then they had been a minor side note on a single scout report, if she had interrogated them herself, would she have come to the same conclusion as Sàdo'Kel? A deep pit opened up in her stomach as the words of her brother floated through her head.
"Not everything is as it seems."
Was he talking about the Imperials or possibly Sàdo'Kel? Had something happened to her second officer? He had been acting oddly for a while spacing out and making odd statements. Suddenly she shook her head. No, none of this was possible. The Imperials had done something to her, were they trying to brainwash her. That fitted with the image she had but something still felt off. She was broken from her thoughts by the tip of a bayonet lifting her chin.
"What are you doing?" The youngest of the four I.G.L. riflemen hissed at the offending rifleman.
"Nothing." He grunted removing the rifle tip.
"What in the Emperors name are you doing? Are you one of those freaks or something?" The rifleman that had questioned O'Neil earlier asked while the fourth kept glancing over at the group of Terrans.
"Well, our most benevolent lords and saviors said that every Xeno they spare has a use. So I was just thinking that we could get some use of her." The rifleman said, a mad grin spreading across his face.
"That's sick! She's a Xeno!" The one that had questioned O'Neil whispered angrily.
"And, she looks human enough. Hell, she's even kinda' pretty." The grinning one continued, turning to the now infuriated Ghen'Hòar.
"I'm telling the Commander." The youngest said, gripping his rifle up he didn't even take the first step before a strong hand wrapped around his mouth and a serrated combat knife plunged into his back.
Ghen'Hòar watched in horror as the riflemen turned on each other the youngest probably not older than eighteen years crumpled to the floor blood steadily flowing from the large hole in his back. The doubting rifleman held up his hand and backed away slightly his eyes fixed on the blood soaked knife.
"You in?" The grinning one asked the fourth rifleman who had remained silent up till now.
"No." He answered, his deep voice carrying a strange amount of authority.
"Whatever, more for me." The clearly mad one muttered with a content sigh. "Listen you Xeno bitch. You so much as try and scream I'll cut out your tongue. Understand?"
Ghen'Hòar's eyes flickered to the large pool of blood at her feet and back into the dilated pupils of the heavily breathing human. Try as she might the restraints that the red one had made were far stronger this time around and her arms were already badly cut from last time. All her ideas of misjudging the humans disappeared as the soldier loomed over her.
"I heard you speak last time. So answer me!" The I.G.L. rifleman demanded, holding the blood stained knife at Ghen'Hòar's cheek.
"The answer's no." A deep voice whispered from behind the riflemen followed by a very distinctive bark.
(AN: Now I need to put this in for my own sake. Ahem, I in no way condone the act or even the attempt or even the thought of rape. I in no way suggest, without evidence, that soldier of any nation past or present treat prisoners this way. And finally if this offends too many it will be removed. Personally I think all rapists should be executed by having their eyelids removed and acid dripped on their eyes until it burns through their brains. Even then that's too quick. Rape isn't a joke, and should never be used as one. Its one of the few things that gets me truly angry and as you can see my anger is not a pleasant or pretty thing. Please don't let this ruin the story for you. Addition from the Beta: I'd rather go for castrating them by using Honey and Fire ants, but else I agree. Though it is a fact that, in times of war, it happens a LOT. A very sad fact, but nonetheless....)
The mad rifleman's head exploded as the mass reactive round detonated, showering Ghen'Hòar and the three other riflemen in brains and blood. The enraged Apothecary stood behind the slumping body, his normally kind or blank face twisted with anger. Faster than any one could follow the two riflemen that hadn't gotten involved were on the ground cradling there guts as they coughed up blood and vomit.
Ghen'Hòar almost flinched as the white armored marine scooped her and the still bleeding young human up.
"What was that about?" O'Neil asked, as the calm and collected face that he knew as Samuel's returned.
"We all have our ghosts from the past. Angelus is sworn to avenge the fallen of Bodhistivitican Primus and Samuel is incensed by memories from his second mission as a scout." Vanem said quietly as the Chief Apothecary of the Third Company began to patch up the young rifleman.
"What happened?" McKay asked almost timidly as Angelus's frown deepened to a dangerous level.
"May I?" Vanem asked Angelus who just nodded before walking towards Samuel. "On the planet Persephone Theta, a simply Agri-world on the boarder of our patrol zone, a small group of scouts from the Tenth Company were doing rounds with a Veteran Sergeant by the name of Nestor from the Second. Quite suddenly the entire Planetary Defense Force and orbital defenses were erased in the blink of an eye. A Dark Eldar Corsair fleet had chosen to pillage the tranquil little world." Vanem explained somberly.
"I won't repeat the atrocities we saw when reinforcements finally arrived. I'm sure you experiences on the planet Commorragh give you an idea of what to expect. We searched for a day only to find the ragged remains of the scout squad sitting beside the flaming wreckage of a slave ship knee deep in Dark Eldar and on the verge of going berserk. As you saw every single man who still lives from that squad will slaughter anything that reminds them of that world." Vanem finished quietly.
"What about Angelus, what's this Bodhistivitican Primus?" Sheppard asked, finally beginning to understand why the Marines were so filled with unrelenting hate; it was the only way they knew to survive.
"Bodhistivitican Primus is, more accurately was, at the beginnings of becoming a hive world. It resembled your Terra in most ways. A freak accident with a refinery on the moon rained massive meteors onto the planet. Other than cause wide scale destruction it unearthed a large Wraithbone structure." Seeing the confused looks and the occasional glance at Levis Vanem sighed, explaining this was always tedious. "Wraithbone is a material the Eldar use in construction. Its extremely hard but light, some say it comes from the warp."
"Anyway a passing Strike Cruiser was asked to help with the evacuations and general reshuffling of the planet after the disaster. It was a few weeks later when the first Eldar warband appeared from the Craft World of Iybraesil. They claimed that we had murdered many of their kin by dropping our inferior bombs into the webway. With the destruction around the planet the Eldar were told the truth about the accident and asked to leave. A few days later Imperial forces all across the planet were assaulted by Eldar hosts. As you can guess the Sons of Sol Strike Cruiser was involved and more forces were quickly deployed by our Chapter Master, catching the Eldar before they retreated. The Eldar were quickly driven away suffering heavily but they left behind a large explosive device at the webway entrance probably to seal the entrance." Vanem let out a forlorn sigh and glanced over at Angelus.
"Our forces were caught in the blast and we suffered massive casualties. Of the few survivors was a young upstart Sergeant who was noted for being extremely violent and utterly devoted to the blood vengeance. That is what compels Angelus; he needs to avenge all of our Brothers that died." Vanem finished.
"Shit, how often do these sorts of things happen?" Sheppard asked, terrified of what the answer might be.
"Constantly, our corridor of space is tiny compared to the Imperium but we're involved in a major conflict every eleven years or so and the entire chapter is called upon every fifty or so years depending on Xeno and heretic activity." Vanem answered making shooing motions with his hand hopping to prompt McKay and Carter back to work.
Angelus stood next to Samuel as the younger Marine busily worked to heal the now conscious but still wounded rifleman.
"Samuel." Angelus said in his gentlest tone, which could still terrify children and kill small animals.
"I'm fine Angelus. You should discipline the other two." The Apothecary said as he finished bandaging the wound.
"I will, if Ishmael was here he would be lecturing you on how you upheld the honor of the Emperor's forces." Angelus said, placing a comforting hand on the white armored Marine.
"I know." Samuel said standing up. "It's just, it's just." His fist shot out and smashed a deep dent in the wall. "Why!? Why couldn't we save them!? We're the best! If we can't do it, then who can?" Samuel raged, venting his fury at the world.
"You saved them, you rescued a whole ship." Angelus said, trying to calm down the Marine.
"So, it was one just one. There we're so many others, so many." Samuel whispered turning away from Angelus and started to unnecessarily redress the rifleman's bandage.
Subtly signaling for Levi to come over, Angelus moved to stand beside Samuel again. "I know. Just think of the ones you saved." He said.
"Come on Samuel lets have quick break." Levi offered in his usual offhand manner.
Angelus relaxed as Samuel got up and moved away from the Eldar and the rifleman. Anger and fury were how they were taught to deal with sorrow. He doubted if any Marine knew what it truly was, he even doubted if they could even cry any more. It was probably best that Samuel was so riled up about it, a message that Ishmael had preached for a long time was that a Marine must walk a fine line between automated massacre machine and raging berserker, both of which were paths to damnation.
Ghen'Hòar was confused, very confused. One of the armored humans that had spent the better part of a day fighting the Zerfàrim was concerned for her. The very notion seemed bizarre; nearly all the Zerfàrim had come to the conclusion that the larger humans were merciless killers. Once again her perception of the Imperium swung around. A shadow suddenly loomed over her and she looked up into the cold stare of the black armored one. Now this was back to normal, this one despised her completely and it seemed that wasn't going to change.
"It's for Samuel's sake." Angelus muttered to himself. "Eldar are you injured?" Angelus demanded bearing down on the confused Ghen'Hòar.
Ghen'Hòar looked around to find who the human was addressing, suddenly she realized that he was talking to her. "No." She answered quickly.
"There will not be a repeat of this incident." Angelus continued, his urge to break something rising.
Ghen'Hòar simply nodded in understanding as Angelus strode away. Stranger and stranger. Humans really were a bizarre species.
"Sam I'm in!" McKay shouted as he finally cracked the security on the Ancient computers. Any trepidation he had been feeling about the strange new sensations he was experiencing totally forgotten.
"Try and find out what that object is." Carter said, abandoning her terminal in favor of watching over McKay's shoulder.
"Let's see, uh. It's listed as archeological exhibit 109345. Dated at the First Age of Pandemonium. Extracted from a sealed tomb complex on a rogue asteroid. Origin: Furling. Sam look at the date that's almost forty million years old!" McKay shouted as more Ancient symbols flashed across the screen.
"Furling?" Angelus asked, having never heard of that particular Xeno race.
"I think this is it." Sheppard said excitedly.
"Hang on, there's stuff in here about experiments. Initial trial has shown at least a sixty percent increase in subject's mental activity. The High Council has approved a research facility and volunteers." McKay read out.
"Brain activity? I don't like the sound of that." O'Neil said, as yet more bad memories of face grabbing devices flickered though his head.
"I can't get any further in looks like some of the data has been corrupted. Unless…" McKay trailed off as he began to work at a frenzied pace.
"Ah, I see trying to bring up the data by accessing the device drives." Carter nodded as McKay worked away.
A loud hissing filled the room making everyone jump to attention and those that could began to swing their weapons around searching for the source of the noise. O'Neil's eyes came to rest on the stasis chambers as the watery effect began to recede.
"I should have let Angelus shoot you." He groaned at McKay.
Inside each tube was the desiccated corpse of a man or woman with a massive array of wires and tubes leading into or around their heads. Each one wore the standard dress of the Ancients, a plain white robe. Everyone in the hall, even the riflemen and Ghen'Hòar, moved closer to the dried out corpses as a sense of discovery took hold of them. Suddenly one of the female corpses snapped back to life her ten thousand year old lips parting to let out an ear splitting scream.
"What the hell!" Sheppard shouted over the ear rending noise.
"I have no idea!" McKay shouted back, desperately trying to reinitialize the stasis field.
There was a pause in the banshee like scream for a second, only for the old woman to shout. "Impiger (Activate)." At the top of her surprisingly powerful voice while the rest of her face remained impassive. As soon as the word left her lips she began to scream again.
Suddenly the Dodecahedron faces silently separated, exposing a blindingly white core. The Ancient woman continued to scream as if her lungs were infinite.
"McKay, what have you done!?" Sheppard shouted as the Dodecahedron began to spin faster and faster.
"I don't feel well." McKay groaned as all the color drained from his face and the strange sensations he had been feeling since coming down here were suddenly replaced with an ice cold dread.
"Angelus!" Levi shouted from the rear of the group his, voice filled with worry.
"Iugo (Connected)!" The dried out Ancient screamed at the Imperials as the Dodecahedrons black faces became a grey blur around its blindingly white core.
"Sir, shoot her!" Carter shouted over the scream that seemed never ending.
O'Neil raised his P-90 and fired. The bullets sped towards their target perfectly until they smashed into the wall around the still screaming woman almost like they had been shifted in space. Suddenly the spinning Dodecahedron began to emit a high pitched screech like a million nails being dragged down a brand new chalk board.
"I hate this place." Vanem muttered as the screeching became painful for the humans and the lone Eldar.
Suddenly the woman stopped screamed once again. Hey wrinkled eyelids sprang open to reveal pure white eyes. The woman blindly stared at the group for a second that seemed to last forever. "Salto (Jump)!" She screamed as her back arched tearing her head free from its wires and restraints.
The white core surged beyond its black Dodecahedron confinement and swept across the room. When the blinding light receded back into it confinements all that was left were the five desiccated Ancients corpses, one dead I.G.L. rifleman, the Dodecahedron that had reverted to it normal shape and a single female Ancient hanging limply from her stasis chamber as her breathing slowly became lighter.