Chapter 52, Subterranean Secrets

M30.884

Tanya Russ

The tunnels underneath Fenris were more extensive than the cities, possibly even more so. Determining where and when to puncture into them and how to go about exploiting the reaches underneath required a lot of deep thought.

We didn't want to go too far out away from civilization, or we would not be able to support the expedition. Doing it under the fortress, the Fang, was not a good idea simply because we would be exposing the military-industrial complex that was the home of the Wolves of Fenris to whatever horrors were beneath it.

By that same token, we didn't want to do it too close to any of the civilized parts of Fenris. Yes, better supply routes, but more chance of what was beneath coming up and causing problems.

Ultimately, what was decided was to use a small juncture already in existence halfway between the two major cities of Fenris, Russ, and a town on the other side of the continent.

There was a railroad running between those two points, used mainly for military needs in order to move troops through the area during the winter.

Oddly enough, though I didn't recognize it, I should have. This was the same path that my men had marched over to get to the other side of the continent many years before in order to kill the Lord who threatened my retirement.

In fact, the tunnels we located for this operation were not too far away from where we'd run into that creature that tasted a little bit like pumpkin after we blew it up: the Ice Wyrm.

It took a week to build up the station right next to this hole, turning it from a station that was simply here for changing trains over, into a fully operational supply depot for this operation.

But once that was accomplished, well, there was nothing holding us back. So, a week after my plans to get into that cave system again were put together, here I was standing next to Wolf Lord Gunnar Gunnhilt, commander of the Fifth Great Company, with about 4,000 Space Marines (would be 5,000, but he was also in recovery operations here on Fenris and was looking for more troops).

We would be the spearhead of the operation, marching down in front of Fenrisian guards with the occasional Valkyrie unit coming up behind us.

And at the rear of the column were about 7,000 Squats who had all volunteered to help with this operation.

Understandably, they weren't fans of living out in the daylight like the rest of us. They were uneasy about not having cavern roofs above their heads, so the operation to claim an underground city and make it functional had apparently been something that the majority of the population of Squats on the planet appreciated. How many there were, I was still unsure, but the point of the matter was that if this was successful, there would be a place for them to live, which could attract more settlers. What that meant for the future, I didn't know, but I figured it would be a good thing. After all, they were skilled artisans and miners, which would make us less dependent on the Mechanicum. Even if I did trust the Mechanicum of the planet, having external sources of equipment and competition between the Mechanicum and the Squat League that was forming here would be better for prices, or so I thought. At least it would be better for coming up with new technologies.

Looking up at the wintry mountains around me, I felt more ideas brewing than I had in a while. The familiarity of Fenris somehow calmed me. Perhaps it was just a sensation of feeling at home. Perhaps I had simply become very attached to the planet. Perhaps... Perhaps I was just tired of going on adventures in the stars for a bit and wanted to do something actually worthwhile. Considering my last campaign, which resulted in a holocaust of another species, with a little evidence pointing to humans who had used too much genetic modification and went too far, I could be excused for the desire to build instead of destroy.

Shaking my head, I tossed those thoughts aside and focused on what was before me: the cave leading down into the darkness that would take us to the rumored city. It was similar to the caves close to where I had first started finding these caves—dark, deep, and large. Obviously, manufacturing had gone into them. Some sort of drilling equipment had reinforced the sides as it went along. That alone would be very interesting if we could recover any of those tools. Even the railroad we had manufactured had to climb the mountain in several places, and though blasting a route had been functional, if they could have simply carved a hole through the mountain range all the way from one side to the other, that would save time, money, and effort.

Granted, the faster route would probably have a greater chance of flooding during the rainier parts of the year, but during winter, it would connect the continent like no path could have before. Shaking my head, I saw Lord Gunnhilt coming up, waving his hand as he said, "Wonderful day for a march into the deep, my Primarch!" The man, not wearing his helmet and smiling brightly through his beard, looked ready to take on hell itself with the large amount of throwing axes he had strapped everywhere. They seemed to be his preference over his own bolt gun, which hung lightly at his side.

"Yes, hopefully it won't be too dangerous down there," I said, looking into the darkness.

Lord Gunnhilt shook his head, saying, "Scouts have been going down there for a few days now. They've located a potential route that leads to a city. Old wires and all that, indicating that there was power being transferred. Should be safe enough. Though, there was an interesting little discovery when they were down there."

"Oh, what did they find?" I asked, looking at them.

Ice trolls, sir. At least two had been down there at some point, and recently. Hopefully, they've moved on further into the mountains, but they could be using it as some sort of territorial crossing point. There's no way to know if this path opens up somewhere nearby further in the mountains.

I nodded my head and silently hoped we wouldn't run into an ice troll in those caves. Those things were massive and required quite a large amount of firepower to kill. Being in a small place like a cave system was not a great situation to use such firepower. Not to mention, we wouldn't have any vehicles going down there. We could probably fit a Rhino, but the benefits of bringing an armored vehicle into a tight passageway are not very good. Even the extra armor wouldn't do us much good if something massive like an ice troll is down there. It could probably grab the Rhino and toss it down the passageway, or even shove it into a corner and start crushing it.

Shaking my head, I said, "Well, maybe I should have brought some of the First Company. Could always use some Terminator armor on this operation."

"I already got you covered, my King," Lord Gunnhilt said, stepping to the side, revealing that he apparently had a specialty squad of around ten individuals in Terminator armor. I raised my eyebrows as I looked at him, and he continued, "I invested in the industry on Svellgard, which means I got a small kickback, allowing me to buy the armor at a cheaper rate for the next four years. So, I've been putting most of my extra funding into getting some of those Terminator suits."

I nodded my head before saying, "Not a bad plan. Okay, then. Your specialty squad will lead the way, and everyone else will have to proceed slowly down into these tunnels."

With that, I reached to the side of my belt and pulled off the Wolf Helm, quickly putting it on my head before turning to look at him. "I believe it's about time to start a little bit of a hunt. Do you want to go first, or should I?"

"The King should always enter first, but we'll be close at hand," Lord Gunnhilt said with a nod, and I turned, pulling Gungnir from my back, and began to march down into the tunnels. I turned down the ice-producing elements in my armor since the fight on the homeworld of the Rangdan. I wasn't going to freeze over like I had accidentally done. But if the ice trolls were here, I would turn it back on in an instant. As much as they bore the name of ice trolls, they didn't like the cold any more than anyone else.

As I moved further into the darkness, lights on my armor came on, as well as lights on the armors of the soldiers behind me. Deeper and deeper we went, and soon the light of day was lost. Everyone was more preoccupied watching the corners than actually talking. This went on for several hours until we were at least a couple of miles underground.

At this point, we ran into what could best be described as the reason that the scouts had figured out that there had been ice trolls here.

There were two paths in front of us. One of them led to an ancient city, probably, while the other may lead to another ancient city further away. However, one of them wasn't easily accessible because the ice trolls had been using it as a dumping ground. It was filled with rotted wood, bones, and things they didn't want to eat—generally, a disgusting plug in the cave.

Looking to the Wolf Lord, I asked, "Please tell me that the known underground city is that way," pointing towards the path that was still open.

The slow motion of 'no' told me everything I needed to know. Signing, I looked back and called out, "We need some engineers and explosives!"

I stepped out of the way as a group of Fenris engineers came forward, carrying what looked like C4, and got to work. The amount of complaints coming from them about the smell and other things made my heart go out to them, but I wasn't going to do the job.

After about 30 minutes, the poor engineers came back, looking like they needed a good shower. I said, "You guys can follow the path all the way back up and out if you want. There are supplies to clean yourselves up on the surface."

"Thank you, Wolf King," one of them said. I think it was the leader, but I couldn't tell as the insignia on his arm was covered in something I'd rather not think about.

Once the area around the plug was cleared, an engineer who stayed behind activated the explosives, and there was a boom—not a big one, as it had been designed to minimize damage to the tunnel and focus on the plug. But it was big enough that there was a bit of dust kicked up, spreading the scent of the terrible plug all over the place.

The complaints were quite vivid, and I tried to ignore them, closing off the filters on my helmet so I didn't have to breathe in the outside air. After it cleared up a bit, I walked through, watching where I stepped to get through what had been blocking the way, and moved out into what could best be described as an underground city.

This one was slightly different from the one I had seen all those years before. That one had been a well-structured underground city, while this one seemed to have more of a stepped pattern to it.

Looking around the edges, though, I did see a few more buildings. Perhaps this had been some sort of research center. It's hard to say what the ancient humans of Fenris were up to.

Wolf Lord Gunnhilt came up from behind me, standing next to me, with several other Terminators on either side, as I looked out across the empty-looking area. "It's going to take forever to clear this place out and make sure it's safe," he said, and I nodded in agreement.

"Well, we better get to work then," I looked up before saying, "If a certain someone wouldn't mind lending us a hand and turning on the lights, perhaps."

"I can't really do that," came a voice to my left, causing me to look over and see the All-Father sitting on a rock, a staff in his left hand.

"I see," I replied,

nodding as he confirmed my suspicions. "I really am not supposed to harm the children of interest in my own way, and turning the lights on would harm them because I know what you are planning."

"And what is your opinion on what I am planning?" I asked, making him look at me before he replied,

"Cleansing these under cities, or at least pushing them out for the Squats to live here, that's bad, but not as bad as cleansing them and then leaving them to fester once again. I know my opinions are moot, but perhaps there's something good that will come from this, though I doubt it. The people down here are, well, nearly not people anymore."

He shook his head before saying, "I can tell you that there are three other entrances to this main chamber—one directly west from here, another directly east, and one directly north. You have entered through the south end of this chamber. The only other cities in this area are too far away to support this one from this attack, so the population you'll deal with here are only the ones present here, and they will have ways to escape."

I nodded, then turned to a couple more engineers who had come up. They were looking at the All-Father with confusion as I said, "You heard the man. Once we've cleared out the east, north, and west entrances, we need to lock those down and prevent anything from coming through."

"They can clear the path," the All-Father said, and I nodded. I didn't know if they could, but if we could get this place under our control and set up our own defenses outside those entrances, we would be stepping in the right direction.

The All-Father shook his head before saying, "I see the Emperor's finally rubbed off on you. What horrors have you seen out in the stars?"

I paused to think about it before realizing he had a point. I hadn't exactly been a fan of this kind of operation all those years ago. Now that I think about it, seeing what could go wrong probably spurred this. Having a festering wound underneath Fenris that could be a problem in the future could not really be tolerated.

Turning to the All-Father, I simply said, "I saw what humanity did to itself on other worlds, and I would rather not see whatever lives down here does if it gets up above."

The All-Father nodded before leaving me with one last word, saying, "Do me one favor: try and capture some of the people that are down here. See if you cannot bring them back to the surface and make them normal again. I would like to think that there's something to save in these creatures, but I don't know for sure."

Nodding, I said to myself, "If it is possible, I will try and capture some and bring them to the surface. I'm not here to commit genocide for genocide's sake. I'm here to secure the underground for our needs, and if that means that some of these creatures will have to be forced to act human, then that's what I will be doing, if I can do it."

The All-Father smiled at that before vanishing. Lord Gunnhilt looked at me in confusion and asked, "Was that who I think it was?"

"Perhaps," I replied matter-of-factly before turning to him and saying, "Let's get to work clearing these caves out."

General Trorban Grimmark, of the League of Kapellan.

Moving along the west wall, I looked at the curious structures with some interest. Being a Squat meant you were used to underground cities; you understood how they were constructed, how they were built, and why certain shapes of stone were cut. Looking at these walls, though, reminded me that there were some mysteries that predated what I understood of underground cities. The walls seemed to have been melted away by something, long-lost archeotech that converted base rock into lava and was funneled up some sort of channel to be dumped somewhere else. At least, that's what I would suspect looking at these walls with their smooth creation. This was ancient technology dating back to the Human Federation, but we probably would not find that technology running around down here. Machines like that were expensive, and if they used it to build these underground cities, they probably had to sell it at some point to keep the cities going. At least, that would be my suspicion. It's very well possible that I'm wrong, and there were those machines down here. If I was, that would be beneficial to the Squat Leagues, not just to this new underground colony that we were going to set up.

"Sir, the enemy has been spotted," a soldier said, coming back from the front of the column.

"Identify it," I said. "Are they moving to attack us or what?"

"At this moment, no, sir. I think most of them are still not really sure what's going on, but we've spotted an enemy formation in front of the entrance we've been assigned to take control of."

I nodded and said, "Tell the commanders of the formation to stack up and get ready. I will lead us into combat." The soldier nodded and ran away. I looked out at the strange temple-like building that dominated the center of the city. That was a curious thing; even though the Federation occasionally used pyramid shaped structures, I knew that from my former career as an archaeologist. They weren't popular but generally used for research installations or art. Could it be some sort of museum, I wondered? I would probably find out when this was over. The Primarch and her force were making a direct path for it; I could see it from here as they moved through the city's lights, being lit up as they went.

Most likely, when they arrive, shit would really kick off. I had the feeling that something would break loose. Something about this place felt wrong, not the primordial wrongness that you might find in something from the deep core worlds of the League, a more tainted wrongness, as if something had been traded here and left to simmer and stew for a long time.

Shaking my head, I moved on, pushing my way to the front of the column. I kind of wished I'd be able to bring some more heavy armor, but the tunnel wasn't exactly conducive to bringing our big toys, let alone motorcycles. We'd have to fix that. Oh sure, we could have brought motorcycles, but looking around at the unpaved area around, well, they wouldn't have done it any good. No, this would be an infantry fight, and one thing that us Squats were good at was armored infantry fights and fighting in underground areas. Pushing my way to the front, I saw already a column of my men shaking out into a line, pushing a shield wall to the front as the secondary line brought their rifles and put them over their shoulders, the first line holding pistols and pushing them through holes in the side.

Standing near one side, I saw the commander on a platform that had been deployed, allowing him to see over the line. I quickly went over and stepped up on the platform to see what he was seeing.

"General Grimmark," he said, giving a salute, his hand hitting his pompadour hair before looking out at the enemy. My eyes followed him to see mutants; that was the best word for it. Some of them were hairy, furry, indicating that they had fallen into some sort of bestial instinct. But the general take of it was they were mutants, still humanoid in form, but definitely not worth considering anything more than what they were. Judging by the way they moved, from what I observed, they didn't seem to have much in the way of intelligence left in their brains.

At least, the ones I saw moving about. Here, there was something different coming from a tunnel. I saw what appeared to be more mutants, seeming to be under some sort of control. One creature, a more feathered mutant standing on top of a building, was howling, rallying the mutants to its call, making noises that sounded like the caw of a crow and drawing the creatures to it. It raised what appeared to be a sword, hewn from bone, above its head, swinging it about as if it was summoning more mutants from the tunnel.

"Reinforcements?" I asked the commander, and he nodded. "We've been watching them come in for the last few minutes, sir. They haven't attacked us yet, but I think that's only a matter of time. We need to seal that tunnel before any more break through, as well as find any more of those feathered creatures that are leading them; they seem more intelligent around it."

"Well, then, we better clean this up before they become a real problem. You have my permission to open fire with your men"

"Yes, sir," the commander said, giving a salute before pulling up a radio and saying, "Men, open fire!" Down the line, several other commanders gave the order, and as one, the formation unloaded autoguns into the swarming mass of degenerated mutants. The mutants, which had been closest to us, immediately turned and charged, while gibbering and howling incoherently at us with their large maws. Said maws were usually filled with holes before they reached us, but they made a good effort. The next charge of the hostile mutants rushed over their dead and dying brethren, under the command of the bone-wielding bird-like monster, charged and was also subjected to the same autogun fire. Though they did a better job of closing the distance, forcing several portions of the line to fall back, they fell into areas where autocannons had been placed, allowing them to open the line, unleash devastating fire into the formation of charging monsters.

The cave was echoing with screams and gunfire as they were pushed back, and then forced to flee. The bird creature waved its makeshift sword in my general direction before a sniper further down the line gave it a too-close haircut, and it toppled over, before being trampled underfoot by the now uncontrolled fleeing horde. Controlled gunfire continued for a bit before everything went silent.

It appeared we had cleared it out, so I nodded to the commander, saying, "Give the order to move forward and execute any survivors."

"Ah, sir, didn't we get some orders to try and save some of these creatures?" the commander said, giving me a look. I gave him another look and said, "Fine. If any of these mutants appear to try and surrender, we'll see what we can do. But if they don't, if they act hostile, put them down."

The commander nodded, and gave the order. The formation started moving forward, men stepping ahead, using bayonets on the end of their rifles or on the end of their pistols to dispatch the creatures that were beyond saving, while looking for any survivors willing to surrender. It took a bit, but as they moved forward, sections of the area were cleared out, and glow sticks were dropped here and there to illuminate things. Before long, the initial area around the entrance to the western tunnels was cleared out, and I was allowed to move forward and take a long look down those tunnels. I didn't see any more of those creatures, but there was plenty of blood leading down the end of them, indicating we'd injured quite a few of them that had retreated. This was good; they were likely to be a menace while we worked and lived down here. We needed to establish that if you messed with us, you'd get messed with badly, and this was the first step in establishing that.

Looking up, I saw areas in the tunnel that we could collapse easily enough. I waved over to some engineers, saying, "We need this tunnel closed to keep the monsters out. Bring forward some shaped charges and everything else we can get our hands on."

"Yes, sir," they said, with a salute, before heading off, leaving me to look down the tunnels. The commander stepped up next to me, asking, "Do we know how many underground cities are down here?"

I looked at him and shrugged before saying, "Don't know. All I care about is securing this one. Beyond that, well, in the future, we'll prepare other expeditions once we're able to build enough population to head down into those other tunnels. Maybe reinforce this place, build a farm structure of some kind, provide actual food instead of rations from the surface. We need to be somewhat independent from the surface folks since Fenris isn't exactly a hospitable planet up there, and they'll need their food to survive."

The commander nodded in agreement as he looked down the tunnel before saying, "We did manage to bring a few of the creatures into chains, but they were extremely degenerated. I don't think they have much intelligence."

"Noted," I said before adding, "We'll hold them and hand them over to the Primarch. She can decide what to do with them on her own time. As for us, we've got a job to do, and we'll do it. Get to work preparing men to move into the city towards the main pyramid so we can secure the whole place from these creatures."

"Yes, sir," he said, turning and walking off as I turned away from the tunnel, walking back towards a new platform being set up. This one on top of a ruined house. I quickly stepped up the ramp that had been built to find that they were installing an autocannon facing the tunnel. It also gave me a very good look at the city that we were going to have to clean up.

"Very utilitarian buildings," I thought. For the most part, the structures were not more than one or two stories tall. Though there could be some underground barracks and basements for all I know. We would have to clean out every single aspect of the city, make sure these monsters have been removed, and reinforce all the entrances. As well as, why not create tracks in the tunnels leading in and out, and build proper doors. I think everyone would prefer the trains running from Fenris to the capital having the ability to drive down here and deliver supplies, rather than having to walk up the tunnel every time you needed to gather supplies. That would take time, but nothing is impossible. There was one thing my people were good at, and it was building big things underground. Building this into a proper Squat city would take time, but it was possible.

Tanya Russ

The cave system was massive and ancient, judging by the stalactites hanging from the ceiling. It had most likely been discovered before the fall of the Human Federation. The army I brought down here moved carefully and slowly, checking the buildings one by one as we moved towards the large pyramid structure at the heart of the city.

The area around the main complex consisted mainly of one or two-story buildings, so it wasn't hard to slowly make our way through. We were making sure that nothing snuck through our lines to try to attack from behind or cause problems. But in the first 30 minutes, we didn't run into any monsters.

Perhaps we were being spared by the fact that we were using flares to light up the area. The entranceway had been built up before we left, and a mortar crew was firing flares over the main part of the area where we were searching, adjusting so that we would get the most light as we moved. In the distance I could hear the fighting from the cave entrance sealing off the enemy's escape. I hope they did not receive too many casualties.

Since I didn't know the nature of the threat we would be facing, I had agreed to mixed units, combining Valkyrie and Fenrisian Wolves, so that they could handle any threat that appeared.

We had almost reached the foot of the pyramid when we finally encountered the first enemy. As it came around the corner, I wasn't really sure what I was looking at. I had expected a human, but what I got was a mutant.

The creature that wandered out from a dwelling was haggard, misshapen, and blind, lacking proper eyes. It only had milky orbs. It was muttering something as it faced the pyramid, seemingly not noticing me as I approached.

I looked to Lord Gunnhilt, wondering what he thought we should do. He simply drew out an ax, ready to kill the thing if it made any hostile moves. So, I decided to play the good cop and ask questions.

"Hello there," I said, raising a hand in a gesture of friendship, assuming it could still hear me even if it couldn't see me.

To my surprise, the creature whipped around, its left hand transforming into a sharp, distended claw longer than some of the lightning claws that had made their way into service within my Marines. The creature screamed and charged at me, but I managed to grab its hand before it could do any damage. With my other arm, I grabbed its shoulder, preventing it from trying to harm me with its more human-looking free hand.

Clearing my throat, I said, "Hello there. Would you mind trying to stop attacking me?"

The creature responded by biting down on the front plate of my armor, shattering its teeth in the process. It screamed and then tried to gum me, which told me that there wasn't much intelligence left in this creature. I turned and let the Lord Gunnhilt slash the thing to death before dropping it down.

"Well, that didn't go well," I remarked.

Lord Gunnhilt nodded before saying, "Maybe there's more inside that house."

Grabbing my spear, I poked the door, pushing it open to see if there was anything inside. I couldn't fit inside because I was too tall. However, I could see that there was nothing in there. Well, that did raise an interesting question about these creatures. The house was obviously built for 6-ft tall people at the standard. Looking at the creature, it was closer to 8-ft tall with thin limbs.

This could mean that the houses didn't quite fit these creatures, which probably meant they would prefer something bigger. Turning my head towards the pyramid, I had a good idea that whatever that structure was, it probably housed the majority of these monsters.

Shaking my head, I said, "Let's continue clearing the streets." A shot went off somewhere closeby, and then another. Nothing happened for a bit, and then a shot from another area indicated that we were starting to encounter these monsters, and they were not surrendering or trying to be peaceful. At least I hoped that my men were giving them a chance.

We moved further on, finding more of these creatures and having to put them down. They were not acting intelligent for the most part. Some would scream, some would moan. It seemed that light hurt their skin. But for the most part, they were animalistic. I also noted that these animalistic traits seemed to resemble hairless wolves.

They seemed to be stuck in a midpoint between conversion into full-fledged feral wolves and the humans that once dominated the underground world.

That was concerning and played well with the theories of what had happened to my people. But it did make me wonder why the underground population had devolved in such a way. What incident in the ancient past had forced humanity to fall this far?

Perhaps the answer lay at the heart of this pyramid-like structure, or maybe it was in another underground city that needed to be cleared out. Who knows how many there were and how deep they went? There were unconfirmed rumors, but possible rumors, that there was one underneath the Fang. Men who had been drilling down under the ground had burst through into a tunnel structure. They sealed it up as best they could and carved new tunnels around it. But if that was true, there was always the possibility that there was something under some of the most valuable points on the planet. And why was that?

Finally, after what felt like hours of clearing out these monsters, we arrived at the edges of the temple, and I was able to get a look at it.

The structure was old but obviously of human make. The metal had once been burnished white in coloration, smooth. I could tell that from the areas that were still clear, although there weren't many. It appeared that it was at the height of where the stalactites were dropping their mineral water, meaning portions of the temple were covered in mineral debris and stalagmites reaching towards the ceiling.

Looking around, I could see that a few of them had almost touched, which meant this was very old.

Lord Gunnhilt came next to me and whistled as he looked up at the structure, saying, "What do you think? Something important in there?"

I shrugged before saying, "It must be something important, as whatever it is, it had a whole town servicing it underground."

"You know, I've seen several more cities than this by this point, thanks to our travels. The city's transport infrastructure is lacking, if the ancient builders of these structures were so modern, why didn't they build railways connecting their cities?" Lord Gunnhilt commented.

Well, that's a good point. Looking at it, I would have figured there would be some sort of system underground to connect cities. But it appears they only ever dug tunnels, which either implies that they were using a lot of cheap ATV-like vehicles or that you had to walk between cities.

Hmm, I shook my head before saying, "Perhaps they wanted to avoid possible exposure to disease or wanted to prevent something from being able to travel quickly between the cities. Assuming they would have had some sort of communication network between them, so if one went bad, they probably would have informed the others and closed themselves off from each other."

"Hmm, makes sense, I suppose." Lord Gunnhilt said, scratching his unkempt hair.

I was about to make a comment when a Valkyrie came running from the left, giving a salute before saying, "My King, we've located an entrance to the temple."

I nodded and said, "Lead the way." And the way she led, we quickly moved along the edges of the structure until we found an entrance that had apparently once been barred. That raised an eyebrow. The bars were designed to keep something in, not out. I could tell that right away as there were two guard rooms in front of the door. Looking inside them, I saw emplacements for guns, but they had long been lost in whatever chaos had taken over the city.

Turning to the gathered troops, I said, "Don't follow me inside. I'll investigate."

They all looked disappointed, but it was probably for the best. Something was wrong, some secret was hidden within this structure, and I figured I should probably find it out for myself first.

First, I stepped through the gateway, closing it and drawing my blade. Dual-wielding a spear and a sword wasn't exactly easy in the confined areas that probably lay ahead of me, so I slid the spear onto my back, drawing a recent addition to my weapons, a Helfrost ax. Carefully, I moved deeper into the facility, scanning for monsters but finding none. Oh, they had definitely been here at one point. The place was trashed. The creatures obviously had no idea what they were dealing with and had destroyed things. As I ventured further, I saw evidence that it probably wasn't just these creatures. As I broke through one door, I found jail cells. Lots of them. That raised an eyebrow. From my understanding, Fenris had served as some sort of entertainment facility at one point, but I believe the All-Father had mentioned it had been something else before that. Could this be where the original prisoners, who supposedly even used to populate the planet with savages, had come from? That was concerning. Passing through the rooms I saw one room with an obvious set of medical equipment and slowly glowing vials inside, I had a feeling that this may very well be the home of the modification that led to the Fenrisian people being slightly different from normal humans.

This was good. If we could capture this facility intact, it could serve as a research bunker. Though most of it would need to be cleaned up and a lot of it trashed, I had no need for prisoner cells.

Moving deeper into the facility, I came across what I think was the central area and was kind of confused. I had not seen the top, so I didn't know the exact structure, but before me was an open area, quite large, with several trees growing in it. No light could get down here, but they apparently had found a way at one point, and they were either dead from thousands of years of no light or in some sort of hibernation.

It was quite large, with the capacity to probably fit several tanks, maybe even three or four Baneblades in the area, and it seemed to be a waste. There was no entrance I could see, just observation windows going all the way around. If it had been some sort of park. I would have thought there would be an entrance, but obviously, there was none. Leaning forward, I looked through the window before my question was answered.

"Oh look, the young wolf that killed Blackmaned has come," a male voice said.

"Yes, the bitch herself, the tamer of the wilds, the one who would be king of the wolves," came a female voice.

Confused, I looked around. It had not been a proper voice, though, as I thought. It had been in my head, which was not good. I quickly established that my defenses were up. I wasn't going to be mind-controlled by whatever was trying to talk to me.

"What are you?" I asked, looking into the pitch darkness of the underground forest.

Two large sets of animalistic eyes slowly appeared in the darkness.

"The god of death of Fenris," the male voice said.

"And the guardian of the gates of death," said the female voice.

"The true king of the wolves and the god of them as well," they said in unison. As they spoke, a giant, two-headed wolf stepped forward. Its mane was as black as the dark creature I had fought all those years before, but much, much bigger. And like that dark creature, its eyes were glowing, indicating to me that this was some sort of creature touched by the Warp.

"Strange, the All-father never mentioned you," I said, looking at it as it padded closer, revealing that it probably could try and rip me apart with a couple of bites if not for the observation deck protecting me.

"That old fool doesn't mention many things. Things that you can't comprehend or that he does not like. He keeps them to himself, he enjoys being the god of the light of the people of the above world. He is after all the All-father the one who protects," the left head said.

"When the reality is, he's nothing but a failed project to use Eldar technology for the betterment of humanity," the right head followed.

I narrowed my eyes and said, "And you would be?"

The creature leaned in close so it could look at me through the window before saying, "The destruction that humanity rightfully creates. I am what humanity does to itself in order to survive and thrive."

"So you're some prisoner who got injected with a triple dose of whatever most Fenrisians have nowadays."

That got a laugh from the wolf as it stepped back, saying, "In a way, yes. But I'm more than what I once was. I've been trapped down here for a long time, but I have had my agents come to the surface once or twice to remind humanity of what it means to survive on this world. If you had not killed Blackmaned, there would have been a bloody 20 years of my wolves hunting and slaughtering humanity. It would have reminded them that no matter how safe they think they are, they need to be stronger and better. Sooner or later, a hero would have risen to kill Blackmaned, improving the general stock of the surface dwellers and preventing them from becoming like the creatures who scuttle about down here, worshiping a dark god that does not even think much of them."

"Wonderful. You're a crazy geneticist who got turned into a wolf and now thinks they're the literal god of evolution, aren't you?" I said, putting my arms in front of my chest.

The two wolf heads looked at me before saying, "Something like that. Immortality takes a sacrifice in form or another. Becoming this is just one of those sacrifices."

I let out a sigh of annoyance, putting my hand on my face before saying, "Great, and let me guess, you want me to let you out so you can organize a genocide of everything on the planet's surface."

"Haha, why would I do that when you're going to do it for me sooner or later?" it chuckled.

I raised an eyebrow before it chuckled again. "You've made a deal with the creature that will see the end of quite a lot, in my opinion. The empire you so worship and fight for will not survive. Fenris will though, it'll be burned, it'll be scattered, but it will survive. The people will come stronger, and they will grow in power. Perhaps they will even expand their reach from simply being a local cluster to something more. Perhaps it'll be the birth of an empire, a new wolf pack that hunts in the stars."

I sighed before saying, "Wonderful. Well, that's great and all, but I really do not need whatever you are on my planet, so I guess I'm going to have to figure out how to kill you."

The creature chuckled before suggesting, "I could be an ally, you know."

"Oh yes, let me guess. I release you, and you offer me powers beyond my wildest dreams, with, you know, some monkey's paw clause that will screw me over."

The creature shook its heads before saying, "No, no. The Night Gangers will not take this attack on their territory well. Even if you were to close off all the entrances, they'll find their way in. They'll take this area over again, and they will keep me pinned in here, just as you would. There's no way to kill me. I'm but a god, and as long as your people allow the wolves to live, I will live."

"Okay, so what do you want?"

The creature looked off to the west, saying, "Over that way is a room. Inside it is a containment field that keeps me here. Turn it off, and I will scale the walls of this structure and free myself. I will hunt the Night Gangers in their underground city for you, keeping the dead dead, as it were, as my role in the religion of these people. I will prevent these creatures from doing you greater harm by worshiping their dark god."

"What dark god?" I asked, folding my arms. "I've not seen hair nor hide of any dark god on Fenris before. I've only seen you."

"I'm the god of death, not darkness. There's a difference," it said matter-of-factly. "... and I would rather not speak its name. But I believe you know it quite well." It laughed, making a very bird-like noise.

I shivered at that, remembering that noise. Though at the time, I hadn't really put two and two together. It corresponded to the Emperor's story that we had been stolen from his lab by the warp entities and tossed far from home.

"Are you saying that one of those warp entities has a home here on Fenris?" I asked.

The two-headed wolf leaned in close to the window, one eye from each head observing me, as it said, "Fenris was always a home for one of those creatures. Not one of its strongest homes, but definitely a foothold in its power. Why else do you think runecraft is so stable here?"

"Because of the World Spirit of Fenris," I said matter-of-factly.

That got a chuckle from the wolf as it said, "That's three-quarters of the equation. But who taught the people of this world to use those powers?"

"Not those monsters, I tell you," came the familiar voice of the All-Father, drawing my eyes to where he was standing, tapping his staff on the metal floor in annoyance.

"Hah!" the wolf laughed before saying, "All-Father, it's been so long. When was the last time you gave me a visit? What was it, 3,000, 4,000 years ago? Seems like just yesterday that you were just learning how to communicate with the population, and then you just never come and visit me ever since then."

"Considering your nature as a being of death, I tend to avoid you. After all, I wish for the people of this planet to live happily, not to die under your fangs," The All-father spoke, crossing his arms across his chest.

The wolf continued, "Otherwise, without my wolves pruning the weak from these people, so many more would have died. Fenris would have probably ceased to exist as a stable ecosystem without my population of wolves tending to their flock. And the Night Gangers would have come to the surface, bringing much more pain and suffering than anything my wolves would ever do."

I looked to the All-Father, crossing my arms, and said, "Well, All-Father, I have many questions. But why don't we start with the most pressing issue on the table here? The Night Gangers and this corruptive threat. Why don't you start talking about that and explain to me how big of an issue they truly are, since I've been kept less than well-informed about these beings?"

The All-Father shook his head before saying, "They are controlled and contained by the wolf here," he said, raising his hand, "or at least kept in their cities. And yes, there are those amongst them that worship a being that is not exactly good for us. I have kept them away from the people above for a good time." He shook his head again before continuing, "I understand if you doubt my words, but they are controlled. They are deep within, far from any civilization, their nature hidden under rock and unlikely to surface and cause problems for the people of Fenris, especially with the wolf here guarding the entrances with its minions."

I looked at the wolf and asked, "And what are your thoughts on the security of Fenris from these creatures?"

"We are entering a time when those creatures will grow stronger. Humanity was split and broken, and as it was split and broken, the powers that controlled those creatures weakened. But humanity is no longer going to be split and broken. There's a power rising in your empire, something will be created to counter it, and when that is created, these creatures will grow in power and ability. For now, they are nothing more than mutants, eyeless horrors, and monstrous forms. They hunt on smell and sound alone, but their sight will return; it will be gifted to them if they're left to fester and worship their dark gods deep beneath the soil of this world. And once they have their eyes back, they will see Fenris as a juicy meal that needs to be conquered. They'll come forward from the earth as the monsters they are and devour all they see, ripping and tearing until everything that was your civilization is destroyed,"

The wolf shook its head before saying, "But there won't be any survivors. Unlike when my wolves attack, they won't do it to strengthen your population; they'll do it to replace. Humanity will die, and the Night Gangers will rise... and then, just as these dark gods do, they'll take their eyes away, force them back under the surface to worship them in their altered forms. They do things for one reason and one reason only: to grow their own power."

I tilted my head before saying, "And wasn't that what you're doing? After all, if humanity believes that you are the god of death of this world, does that not enforce your own powers? Makes you stronger than if you were not believed to be such?"

The wolf growled before saying, "Of course, that is the point of view you would have."

"So you're a parasite." I said, tilting my head before continuing, "You parasitically live off humanity, gaining power by causing us harm, dictating a contract where you are allowed to attack us to maintain your power in exchange. You keep away something worse that would annihilate us completely, as long as humanity stays just above medieval age technology. Nothing but swords, spears, and bows versus the monsters that harm humanity on this world."

"What are you implying?" the wolf said, tilting its head. "So what if you've progressed beyond these medieval age technologies? You may have guns but you still rule this planet in every form. We still exist here, and your people even still worship us in some sense as the apex predator of this world."

"Of course, they do. Now, I would like to point out that your apex predator is now becoming more domesticated with every year, becoming a symbiotic species with humanity, serving it as it should to protect it against monsters in exchange for food," I said.

The All-Father, said "Tanya", just having a smile gracing his lips, "Oh, I see what you're doing there, child of the Emperor. That is a neat implication, one that could rather serve us well in the safety of humanity on this planet."

"Thank you, All-Father," I said with a nod as the wolves' heads exchanged a look before they both focused on me, saying, "What are you implying? What has made the All-Father so intrigued with your statement?"

"Well, if your wolves are becoming a symbiotic part of humanity, that means there is an opening for your existence as a symbiotic part of Fenris, assuming that we can come to a deal."

"A deal? I already offered you a deal. I will hunt the monsters here, and you will let me be free. There's not much more to it."

"Perhaps, but perhaps not," I said, leaning against a pillar near the window. "There is another option I am considering, though I need All-Father's opinion on this matter. If a warp-based creature gave its word, its absolute existence depending on its word, would it be forced to comply with said word?"

The All-Father nodded his head before saying, "Technically, yes. The creature that has bound itself to the will of another must go by its word; otherwise, it would lose a substantial amount of power, as it did break its word and honor. It only works, though, on minor entities like this. Major entities can break such things with little issue. After all, what is their word to a mortal being?"

"Ha, you can't be serious. You would try to chain me, a god of death, as if I was one of your many wolves that had turned their backs on their nature and become your pets."

I smiled and said, "Times are changing, Wolfie. Your wolves came to the realization of that much quicker than you. You either get with humanity and see to its future, or you get removed. The Emperor does not agree to the existence of any form of religion on this planet. What our people do is fine because it's more of a mythology. As long as you remain a mythological creature, you will not be on the Emperor's annoyance list, which means he will not come here and deal with you himself. Now let's make this clear: I may not know how to kill you, the All-Father may not know how to kill you, but the Emperor is something above all of us here, and he probably can figure it out quite easily. So your choices are limited, as are mine on this matter."

I say matter-of-factly "I could either keep a patrol of soldiers down here hunting down the Night Gangers and probably never completely killing them, sending soldiers around wasting resources and having you killed by the Emperor. It would be slow progress on this planet and it would be problematic for cultural reasons. I think simply having the Emperor, sometimes called the All-Father by the people of Fenris, coming around and killing the so-called God of Death would most likely cause some rather religious overtones to grow. So, I see nothing but bad in that direction. People believe in the All-Father as the Emperor, and the Emperor is a God. Not good for my people here on Fenris, at least as far as I can see. Letting the Night Gangers run wild and having my troops busy fighting them is also not good, as far as I can see.

Also I just cannot do nothing about the Night Gangers. They've shown themselves to be a threat, at least from your point of view. If they really are worshiping a parasitic Dark God that is going to take umbrage with the Emperor's work, then I can't let an enemy stronghold fester underneath my planet's surface. I need to do something about them. Not to mention, I have no idea what these dark gods and rituals they're practicing can do to the people who want to move down into these underground cities. The Squats have come here trying to find places to live now that some of their cities were destroyed back home, and this is a good place for them. Unless, of course, it turns out that this place is contaminated in such a way that they have the potential of becoming these Night Gangers. Anyone have an answer on that matter? Should I be worried about that?"

The All-Father and the Wolf shared a look before the All-Father said, "You don't have to worry too deeply about that. The worst of these mutations and rituals are far, far away from here, deep underground. They should not affect the population even if they were to travel into that area. This is generational mutational abuse and corruption, not instantaneous. Though I understand why you may be worried about that. There's a reason there are always stories about Rune Priests who delve too deep into the secrets of the runes. I imagine you've probably seen some horrid things out there in the universe. Am I correct in that assessment?"

I nodded, saying, "The Exterminatus of Taxal showed me some things I would rather not recall, but yes, there are some horrid things out there. Horrible things that tell me that if these creatures do exist, they can do some horrible things to my people if they are down here and they are a problem."

"A problem easily solved if you let me out, and I will rally my wolves and bring these creatures as low as they can ever be, giving you that freedom you need to maintain the veneer of civilization up on the surface until the day everything goes wrong."

I shook my head, "I understand where you're going with this, but we are not letting you out without a contract, one that I am happy with, one that will bind your will to mine."

"Impossible! You lack the ability and will to do such a thing!" The wolf howled, turning up its nose to me as it said, "Just open this cage and let me hunt. Let me kill these creatures, and I will do it gladly. Let me be FREE."

I shook my head, thinking, "I am quite fond of letting people be free, but you are a menace to the society that I need to make sure is controlled to some extent." Turning to the All-Father, I said, "Any ideas on how to make sure this works?"

The All-Father sighed before saying, "Summon as much of my magic as possible. Make it submit with the power of that magic of this world and bind it to you. That is the only way it'll work, if it'll work at all. Though I would be wary of using such things; binding a wolf spirit to you could do unknown things to yourself."

I waved it away, saying, "A problem I'll deal with later."

Sighing, I said, "Here's the deal. You will hunt these creatures beneath the earth, and I will keep people out of the cities that are still under infestation. When you find one that's clear enough that we can take and prevent these creatures from coming again, you will tell me, and I will take that city and turn it into something worth using for Fenris.

"Oh, how very authoritative, dictating a deal now, are we?"

"Yes, I'm dictating the deal. I am the King of Fenris. I am the Wolf King. I don't know what led to your creation for sure. I don't know if you're all living or just a warp entity pretending to be of the living. But you will bow to me as your king and swear your allegiance to me, or you're going to stay in this trap for the rest of time."

"You dare demand a god to prostrate itself before a mortal!," it seemed to summon some sort of dark energy, making its eyes glow purple.

"I dare tell a parasite that it can either be useful and have some freedoms, or be locked away and forgotten till it eventually dies a forgotten existence!," I retorted, channeling as much energy from Fenris as I could. I felt the room starting to freeze a bit as my eyes glowed blue in return.

The wolf stared me down for a bit before finally bowing both its heads and saying, "I, Morkai, God of Death and old King of the Wolves, pledge my allegiance to Tanya Russ, King of Fenris and the new King of the Wolves. By my words, a bond is made. I will not betray you."

"You better not, because I will hunt you down and kill you no matter what if you do," I said, shaking my head, turning, and heading west. "Now let's find the darn door for you. You have a job to do, Guardian of the Gates of Death."

Writers note: well there we go, we found out what beneath.. And Tanya made it take a knee. Because wolves that don;t serve her rule don;t last long. We also have sqout building home and few other interesting to take part look over. What will this all mean? Only time will tell.

Please comment, review, and generally enjoy yourselves…

Edited by: L, drkshodow, Golden

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Reviews
end5: here you go
ayab: oh no
BallsCheesy: thank you
aquilesvr: perhaps
Camasaki: hmmm perhaps
evilstatistic19: here you go
Spartastic 4: correct
aquilesvr: are there any left?
TOPCAT-59: true
Gold1992: SOOON, as for the government perhaps
Blaze1992: no flag rasied... yet...
Blue Team Epsilon: that is a canon
Guest: perhaps
Austin: tank for luck!