Chapter 3: A Fragile Alliance:
Eris bolted out of the corridor into the chaos of battle. The air was thick with smoke and the deafening cracks of lasgun fire. For a split second, she stood frozen, eyes darting from one side of the room to the other. Soldiers—Imperial Guardsmen—were entrenched behind debris, their weapons firing rapidly toward the entrance. The sound of barking orders, the shrill cries of pain, and the growls of daemons filled the space.
Before Eris could take another step, the Guardsmen caught sight of her. She barely heard the shouted command over the gunfire, but she saw the heads turn toward her, and then—the unmistakable sound of lasguns aiming her way.
Panic surged through her veins, and without thinking, she dove behind a nearby pillar, the lasgun fire narrowly missing her. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, the breath caught in her throat. She needed to do something, fast.
"Hold fire!" a voice bellowed over the chaos.
The gunfire ceased, though Eris could still hear the muffled shuffling of boots and the tension in the air, ready to erupt again at the slightest misstep.
"You! Behind the pillar!" The voice carried authority, no doubt a sergeant. "Step out slowly! Hands where I can see them!"
Eris didn't move for a moment. Her mind raced with possibilities—none of them good. They had no reason to trust her. For all they knew, she could be one of the daemons or a warp-spawned trick. Slowly, she peeked around the edge of the pillar. The Guardsmen were all watching her, lasguns trained on her position.
She swallowed hard and slowly raised her hands, the laspistol still hanging loosely in her right hand. Her body trembled as she took a cautious step out from behind the pillar, her legs still unsteady from everything she had just gone through.
"I'm... I'm not a threat," she called out, her voice hoarse. "I'm Mechanicus. I... I'm here to help."
The sergeant, a burly man with a scarred face and a voice that could cut through steel, didn't lower his weapon. "Mechanicus, huh? How do we know you're not one of them? Some... Chaos trick?"
Eris bit her lip, trying to stay calm. "I'm an archivist," she said, her voice steadying slightly. "I was in the lower levels when the breach occurred. I have information that needs to reach command. Please, I'm not one of them."
The sergeant's eyes narrowed, and he glanced at the soldier beside him, a veteran by the looks of him. They exchanged a look before the sergeant stepped closer, though he still kept his lasgun trained on her.
"Prove it," he growled. "Say something only a Mechanicus would know."
Eris's mind raced. What could she say? Her hands still shook as she lowered them slowly, her eyes darting around the room. She saw the remains of a dead servitor nearby—its mechanical parts twisted and broken. An idea sparked.
"The cogitator unit on a Mk. II servitor needs an 8-digit alignment code," she said quickly, her words rushing out before she could lose the thought. "Without it, the commands won't process, and the servitor will freeze up. If you don't input the correct sequence, the whole thing shuts down."
The sergeant's eyebrows raised slightly, and the veteran beside him nodded.
"She's telling the truth, Sarge," the veteran muttered, still keeping his lasgun trained on her. "That's Mechanicus talk."
The sergeant exhaled sharply and lowered his weapon, though his expression remained hard. "Alright, Mechanicus. But if you're lying..."
"I'm not," Eris interrupted, her voice firm now. "I need to reach the command center. Whatever broke through... it's not just the daemons. There's something worse, something that's tearing the planet apart from the inside."
The sergeant let out a low grunt. "You really expect us to leave this post? We've got orders to hold the line here."
Eris stepped forward, her nerves still frayed but her resolve strengthening. "You're holding the line, but for how long? This breach—this incursion—it's spreading. If we don't regroup, if we don't get this information to command, it's only going to get worse."
The sergeant hesitated, glancing over his squad, most of whom were battered, some injured. The chaos outside the building roared louder, the sounds of the daemons growing more frenzied. One of the guardsmen, a younger man, spoke up, his voice tinged with fear. "Sarge... we're not going to make it if we stay here. We're sitting ducks."
The sergeant gritted his teeth, weighing his options. He looked back at Eris. "Fine. But we'll be watching you, Mechanicus. You lead us into a trap, and we'll put you down faster than you can say 'Omnissiah.' Understood?"
Eris nodded. "Understood."
The sergeant turned to his squad, barking orders. "Alright, get ready to move out! Secure the ammo, check your gear! We're leaving in two minutes!"
The guardsmen scrambled to gather their equipment, reloading their lasguns and grabbing what supplies they could. The sergeant turned back to Eris, his expression still wary but more resigned.
"Name's Sergeant Varn. You better know what you're doing, archivist."
"I'm Eris," she replied, her voice firmer now. "And if I'm wrong, we'll lets just hope I'm not."