A.N.: Hello hello! Back with chapter 4, and as promised, I can now answer reviews!
To Scifi Guy 22: Thank you! So this is actually pre-fall of Cadia, and there is indeed a reason why The Emperor was not registered by Cyn.
To Alf: This takes place after the memory dive of episode 5, but before the gang stumbles onto J and Cyn near the labs at the end of episode 5 / start of episode 6.
To Silent Robin: Agreed!... If the news was coming from a trusted, or even reputable inquisitor, and not one that has a tendency to cry wolf... Along with people not really believing whatever he has to say. If the wider Imperium believed it, within weeks we'd have an Ark Mechanicus in orbit.
Edium had dealt with a lot in life.
Born from unknown parents, raised in the orphanages of the PDF, trained from childhood to serve the Governor of Praxis Quartus… raised to know his place as a cog in a far greater machine. He had always wished for more, always sought for more in his life. He'd gotten educated, learning whatever he could. Eavesdropping on conversations between officers, paying for extra drinks from offworld merchants to help loosen their tongues with tales of their travels through the stars.
It had marked him as surprisingly well informed on the situation of the wider Imperium… compared to his fellow PDFs at least.
Never before had he heard of something like what he was witnessing.
"...and then, if you still don't want to talk, I'll give you to V, and she will turn your insides into animal balloons, which trust me whilst awesome sounding would actually be pretty freaking gruesome." The purple eyed metallic… thing finished its now ten minute long rant filled with threats and menaces.
"Miss." Edium said with a whimper. "I already said I was going to cooperate, like, before you even opened your mouth."
"Oh." The purple… thing seemed to blush for a moment, or at least their visor indicated such a change. "...Well, I just wanted to make sure you know where we stand!"
Edium considered snarking that he had learned as much when he heard his entire platoon get torn to pieces by those two abominations, but he decided to not push his luck. He was alive… that was enough for now "Message received miss."
It nodded to itself. "Right! So…" It paused, staring at him silently.
A pink one with blond hair (and wasn't that the most uncanny thing, how human these things behaved), which had so far remained silent spoke up. "You didn't think of any questions did you."
"Shut up Lizzy!" The purple one growled. "I was just being dramatic."
"Whatever." The named Lizzy one said, rolling her eyes. "Still, for a human, he's pretty… boring." She frowned. "Wonder what he looks like under the suit."
"Please do not remove my suit, I will literally die." Edium squeaked out.
"Would he die in the bunker?" Lizzy asked curiously.
"Not sure, but the bunker's not exactly built with human inhabitants in it… who knows what it might do to take it off." The purple thing argued back. "So… you… um…"
"Edium."
"Right, Edium! I totally knew that. Just wanted to throw you off." The purple thing said with a wild grin. "You're a human right?"
"Correct miss."
"And you're not with JCJenson." It continued.
"Never heard of'em." Edium confirmed.
"...So who are you with?" She asked. "And why come here at all?"
Edium hesitated. This… he had to be careful. He could lie, could try to throw them off… But something about the purple one made him uneasy. There was a manic energy under the strange awkwardness he'd expect more out of a teenager than out of some metallic abomination, something that put him on edge. "...Do you know what the Imperium is?" He cautiously asked.
"Sounds nerdy as hell." Lizzy spoke up from the back.
"Shut up Lizzy, this is my interrogation!" The purple one snapped back. "No, what the hell is an Imperium?"
"...You're in it." Blank stares followed that response. "The Imperium is the designation for the ruling authority of mankind. That which unites all of its domains. Everywhere His children make their home, so too does the dominion of the Imperium expand. Including the system you are in, Praxis."
The purple thing stared at him. "...Nuh-uh, this is the Copper system." She pointed to the floor below. "You're on Copper 9."
He stared at her. "...You are aware your planet appeared within our system seven standard days ago right?"
The purple thing stared at him. It then glanced back to the pink one, who shrugged, seemingly somewhat concerned. Then, it turned back to him. "...What."
Oh Emperor protect him. "Seven days ago, an unknown phenomenon led to the sudden appearance of an until then unknown celestial body into our system. Its point of origin is unknown, as is everything else about it. It's why the Governor sent us here… to try and figure out what is going on." He gulped. "Ah, before your friend… killed all the others that is."
The purple thing stared at him, mouth agape. "...Whaaaaaa…" It said, absolutely lost. "Seven days ago… that was when the sky turned purple and the sun turned… weird… are you telling me we fucking teleported?!" She threw her hands in the air. "An entire planet?! That makes no sense! I mean, Doll can teleport, but that's like… there is no way!" She suddenly paused, her eyes going hollow. "W…was it really my fault?" She whispered, voice terrified.
"Uh, I doubt it miss. The kind of power required to move something like an entire planet… I think you'd have noticed if you did something like that." Larry had been someone with powers. Even making a rock fly had made his nose bleed, before he was black-bagged by the Palace guard and never seen again. Something like teleporting an entire world… he couldn't imagine someone doing that on accident.
He didn't want to imagine that, because if that was the case the situation was so much worse than he imagined.
"I… yeah, yeah I… There's no way." The thing said, reassuring itself. "R…right, so if this isn't the Copper system… which mind you, I'm not saying I believe you yet… Where the hell are we? You said Praxis?"
"The Praxis system miss, at the edge of the galactic rim. We're one of the most isolated system in the Imperium, far from everything else." He explained.
"Right, and this Imperium is like… human government. Am I following so far?" The thing said, its expression intense. Focused.
"Correct."
"...Do you know Earth?" It eventually asked.
He hesitated. He'd… never heard that name before. "No miss. Can't say I've ever heard of that."
"Damn." She sighed. "Alright, does the name Worker drone mean anything to you?"
"No miss."
"Disassembly drone?" He shook his head. "Murder drone?" Another shake. "...Seriously?" She whispered. "Where the hell are we?" She groaned. "Uggggh this is giving me a headache!" She narrowed her eyes at him. "Wait, if you guys were here to try and figure out why our planet just… appeared, and you don't know what a disassembly drone is, why the hell did you guys shoot N when he was being friendly?!"
He licked his lips nervously inside of his suit, hoping the tinted glass prevented them from seeing inside of it and how anxious he was. His voice, unfortunately, betrayed him. "...We… The Imperium that is… has a fairly standard policy when it comes to non-human life."
The purple thing narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "And that is?" She pointed at him. "And don't even think of lying!"
He had already decided there was no point in doing so. The next expedition sent here would not bother with words, and… they would not bother with rescuing him. As pitiable as it was, his best chance at survival now was to be as honest and forthcoming as he could. "The Imperium is violently xenophobic, miss. Any form of alien life found is to be subjugated, if not exterminated. The company leader was acting within standard procedure when he ordered the men to fire."
Lizzy let out a snort. "Wow, glad to see that things have changed. Not with the company but still assholes who can't mind their own business."
"Can it!" The purple thing angrily said. "But also, she has a point. Also, xenos? Isn't that a term for aliens?" It pointed at itself. "We're drones, dummy. Robots. Not aliens. For robogod's sake, we were MADE by humans!"
Edium blanched considerably at that. "That… that's not possible…" He whispered.
"Why the hell not?!" It asked, clearly annoyed.
"What you speak of… it would be breaking a taboo of the highest order, a sacrilege only short of refuting the God Emperor of mankind… heresy to an unspeakable level." He was trembling now, realizing the sheer horror of what he was facing. "The Mechanicus would turn this world to ash if this was true…"
"Wow wow, slow down buddy." The purple thing said, seeming a tad nervous itself now. "What the hell is a God Emperor? You guys have a God Emperor? And what's a Mechanicus?"
Edium gulped. "The God Emperor is the ruling authority of mankind. The founder of the Imperium. Our divine protector and guardian." He saw the confusion in the things eyes. How was it possible for a human world to not have even heard of the Emperor? "The Mechanicus… that's a very complicated answer, but essentially those who are in charge of technology and the creation of ships, vehicles and weapons."
"So… tech support? How the hell does tech support have the authority to… what, blow up the planet?" The thing asked in disbelief.
"More turn the surface to cinders, but yes, essentially."
The thing stared at him for a moment. "...None of this makes sense. The more you explain, the less I understand. Why the hell is getting answers making things MORE confusing rather than less?!
"Because it isn't our world." Came a new voice, making all three occupants of the room jump and face the new arrival.
"Doll?!" The purple one shouted, a strange symbol appearing in front of her hand and in place of her eye as the pink one's eyes hollowed out, whimpering as she started scrambling backwards.
The new… thing, was similar in appearance to the other two that had been interrogating it; With different hair and red eyes, along with a different set of clothing. Yet it was metallic, with that same black glass visor staring intently at him.
His mind screamed danger as he stared at the thing and the eerie smile it gave him.
"...This one of your friends?" Edium eventually nervously asked.
"Not even remotely." The purple one snarled. "The hell are you doing here?!"
"Not to fight, Uzi. We have much bigger problems at hand."
"Your name is Uzi?" Edium asked.
"Who cares! I…" Uzi stopped. "You understand her?!"
"Well… yes? She's speaking the same language as everyone here."
"Uh, no she isn't dumbass." The pink one spoke up. "She's speaking russian."
"No, she's speaking low gothic." He argued. "Same as you, and the pur… Uzi."
"Uh, no, we're speaking english. Doll is speaking russian. You're also speaking english, by the way."
"That is… I assume, part of the phenomenon." The red one… Doll, said. "Uzi, things have gotten dangerous. Even more so than before." She shrugged. "You can listen to me, or you can not, but regardless there are things coming that we must be prepared for."
"Ugh! Can you stop being cryptic, for like, one second?!" Uzi said, taking a step towards Doll. "Just spit it out! You said this wasn't our world; This is clearly Copper 9! What the hell are you talking about?!"
"Our planet, yes. Our dimension… no."
Uzi froze. "...You're kidding me. That's the lie you are going for?! Dimensional travel?!" She snorted.
"It is the truth. You do not find it strange? We are in a different place, where the stars are different, the sun is different… they do not know JCJenson here, because it never existed. They do not know of drones here, because they were never made."
Lizzy was nervously looking between the two, occasionally glancing at the exit.
"And how do you know that?" Uzi demanded. "What, do your powers come with dimensional rift detection capacity?!"
"...Of a sort." Doll slowly answered. "...more of a sympathetic leakage that I… verified."
"...What?" Uzi asked blankly, clearly not understanding. Which was fair, Edium was incredibly lost himself.
"It does not matter. The humans that came were only the first of many, many more." She froze. "...I think I can show you some further proof. Come with me to the surface."
"I am not going ANYWHERE with you." Uzi snarled.
"Very well. Then I will go outside, by myself, and if you happen to follow that will be a total coincidence." Doll answered with a roll of her electronic eyes, disappearing in a flash of red static.
For a moment, Uzi just stood there, a tic on her eyebrow. "...Damn it!" She eventually cried out, before rushing to the door. "Lizzy, you lock the human here, we'll be back later!"
"I'm not your servant." Lizzy said, turning to the human. "...You gonna try and escape?"
"I like to live thank you." He replied carefully.
"Smart." She said with an amused smile. "Don't do anything dumb." She chuckled. "I mean, dumber than coming here in the first place."
With that she left the room, the door locking behind her as Edium slumped against the wall with a sigh.
"...Yeah, starting to realize that." He admitted to himself softly.
N carefully landed some distance away from where V was tearing through an old carcasse of a worker drone. They had stopped hunting live ones for some time now at his insistence.
"...V?" He softly called out, the other disassembly drone freezing before her shoulders sagged, reluctantly looking towards him.
"Yeah?" She asked, rising to her full height. "What is it? More humans?"
"No… though I did find one alive. I left him with Uzi." He chuckled nervously. "Hopefully she's not too harsh with him." V simply stared at him, making him shuffle on himself. "So… you want to talk about earlier?"
"No." She simply replied, turning away from him.
"Right… thought that might be the case." He took a step forward. "But… well, I've kind of noticed that a lot of our problems have happened because we don't really talk about stuff… So would it be okay if I said something?" He chuckled. "You don't have to say anything back. Just hear me out." She didn't say anything, but neither did she leave. N took it as tacit approval to continue, taking a few more steps forward before sitting down. For a moment he let the silence sit, thinking of what he wanted to say. "...I'm sorry for scaring you V." He softly spoke. She didn't react, though her body tensed slightly. "I know it was a stupid idea. We didn't know these humans, they were all armed, and… well, if their weapons had been more powerful, it could have been bad." He chuckled. "It's easy to forgot we can actually… you know, with our regeneration and durability and stuff? And…" He sighed. "I don't… like killing anymore V. I don't think I ever did. And I won't apologize for trying to talk things out." He watched her hands clench. "...But I understand that I was kinda reckless."
"And dumb." She added bitingly. And yet, N took it as a victory, a goofy smile on his face.
"And dumb." He agreed easily. "And I don't think I thanked you for helping me out there."
She snorted. "You could have taken them out alone."
"Maybe. But you were still there, fighting with me." He said. "You could have left. You could have… let it serve me as a lesson. But you didn't." His tone softened even more. "Listen, about the manor…"
"Don't." She asked. No, pleaded. The tone of her voice was enough to shock N silent. "That time… that time is gone. It won't ever return. She… Cyn saw to that." She harshly said.
"I guess so." N eventually agreed. "But we're still here right? And I want to be your friend." He extended a hand to her back. "Do you want to be mine?"
Silence. Then, an amused snort. "You are such a damn dork." She turned to face him, expression exasperated, though the corner of her mouth were tilted upwards. "Whatever. Someone has to make sure you don't end up blowing yourself up during one of your friendship making schemes or the purple thing's madness."
"Her name's Uzi." N said with some reproach, but couldn't stop the happy smile on his face as they shook hands. "Yay…!" He squeed, making V roll her eyes and take a step back.
"Easy there cowboy. Don't get too excited." She said with a sigh. "...Ugh. We should probably go back to the bunker and see what the purple…" She paused at N's expectant stare. "...Uzi's learned from them."
N's smile was so blinding V was worried she'd start melting at the sight of it.
They exited the spire, pausing as they stared upwards, eyes wide. "What…" N started, mouth agape.
"The fuck?" V added, shock written on her face.
Uzi stared at the sky with a mixture of awe and fear as Doll smugly leaned against a nearby pile of debris.
"I told you." Doll said. "Nothing like this in our world."
"Bite me." Uzi reflexively said as she continued staring at the starry sky above, where two massive ships burned far beyond her reach. Their size alone was beyond anything she had seen in any record or data she had parsed on humanity, and the fact that they were now burning bright in orbit as they rammed into each other brought little comfort to her. "What the hell are they?"
"Ships of the Imperium of Man." Doll said. "There were five earlier."
"Five?" Uzi's eyes finally detached from the sight above to stare at Doll. "Where are the others?"
"They left. I am… uncertain why they began fighting each other, though I have my suspicions. Regardless, it is likely that we will soon see more humans land on this world. Many more than your little pets killed earlier."
"They are not my pets!" Uzi snarled. "...You don't know what they've been through."
"People, and thousands of them. You seem to forget what they are all too easily Uzi." Doll snorted. "Regardless, we will need them, much as it pains me to admit so."
"That bad?" Uzi asked.
"Worse. Much, much worse." Doll shivered. "I must leave, but I will be back. Tell your pets to hold off on attacking when they next see me, and I will do the same." She said. "A truce, until we are back in our world."
"How the hell do we even do that?" Uzi asked despondently.
"If I am correct… it should happen on its own. How long it will take, I am unsure, but eventually we should be sent back. We just have to last until then."
"Edium said the Imperium would kill anything that isn't human." Uzi said with anger in her voice. "I assume we count?"
"Correct."
"Then negotiating would be stupid."
"There are many who have tried. Their worlds no longer even carry the ruins of their people."
"Good." Uzi said, a malicious grin on her face as she went back to staring at the burning ships far above. "Then I won't feel bad when we slaughter the lot of the bastards."
Doll stared at her. "You are surprisingly bloodthirsty."
"Shut up!"
Boots crunched in the snow of the ice world they'd landed on as the first soldier stepped out of the valkyrie's hold. They took a quick look around, before giving a nod to the remaining troopers inside. Soon enough, the dozen imperial guardsmen within it emerged, joining the five thousand-strong regiment that had been deployed at the improvised landing zone.
Already the others had begun organizing the area for further troops to arrive over the next hours and days; Setting up a makeshift camp and some basic fortifications around the open ground, within less than an hour's distance of the ruined city the PDF had lost their lives in.
They all wore modified environmental suits, padded with some level of protection. It was less than they were used to in their campaigns, but would have to do if they wanted to not freeze to death within a matter of minutes. In terms of heavy equipment they'd only been able to bring some pieces that had been modified to still function within the ruthless cold; Autocannons, heavy bolters and more, given to heavy weapons teams deployed around the camp. Unfortunately for them, they hadn't managed to prepare any vehicles for the ruthless cold, and so were left with those as their most potent weapons.
At the center of the camp, in the largest and most reinforced tent, was the temporary land command post for the campaign, in direct communication with the rest of the fleet.
"The last Valkyrie just dropped off Marshall. I wish we could keep them around for air support, but the weather is going to eventually get to them." Colonel Davon said with a grunt. "All five thousand of the sixth regiment are ready and willing, though we'll feel a hell of a lot better once you can bring down some heavy artillery for us."
"I expect we will be able to bring online some of our mechanized assets in a matter of days Colonel. We have also… convinced the local governor to shift much of their industrial capacity to assisting us in the production of gear that can survive the planetary conditions." She gave him a nod. "We need eyes on the situation on the ground colonel. Do not overextend, but I expect to have at least something to work with by the end of the day. First priority is maintaining a ground presence for future landings."
"Understood Marshall. The Emperor's will be done." He said with a salute. "I will go attend the men now."
"I am counting on you colonel." She paused. "Between the two of us, the whole situation stinks. If you need to be extracted or need air support, tell us. We can have valkyries on flight within a matter of hours… even if they cannot stay long due to the weather."
"Appreciated Marshall. I'll make sure to keep it in mind."
"...That's a lot of humans." N whispered as he stared out at the large camp deployed below.
"Understatement." V muttered, her tail swishing behind her nervously. "And they're clearly here looking for a fight."
"I get it, I get it, I won't try and discuss." N said with a sigh. "...Though I can't promise not to at least TRY if given the chance."
Uzi groaned, standing next to him with a notepad on which she was frantically scribbling. "N, thousands of humans with guns landed on the planet like a day after you and V killed a bunch of them. I don't think they're going to want to talk." She giggled evilly. "Hehehe… time for some payback."
"I dunno… if what Doll told is right and this isn't our dimension, does it really count as payback?" N asked. "These aren't JCJenson. They're not even the humans the company came from."
V groaned. "It doesn't matter. They're here for a fight. I say we let them find one."
N startled. "Wait, you mean attack them first?"
"Why not?" V shrugged. "I mean, they're going to attack us sooner or later right? You and I both know what the effect of surprise can do. And if that many showed up in a day… who knows how many more will come. We can't let them accumulate." V's eyes hollowed as she grinned wildly at N. "Think of it as… population control."
N stared silently downwards, Uzi reaching out a concerned hand on him. "N…" She softly said. "The guy you brought to me. He told me about where these guys come from. They're monsters. They view our very existence as abominable. It's either us… or them."
N let out a trembling sigh. "I know, I know. It's just…" He shook his head. "Wait. Is that a worker drone?"
Uzi's eyes hollowed at the sight of a few guardsmen returning from a patrol, dragging with them what looked like a worker drone with red text on their smoking, hollowed visor. "...Oh robo-god." She whispered.
V rolled her eyes. "Jeez, you workers have really gotten way overconfident in going out since N and I stopped hunting you lot."
N meanwhile was staring at the dead worker with a blank expression on his visor. "...V."
V gave him a surprised look. "Yeah?"
"When do you want to hit them?"
V stared for a moment, before her smile widened. "No time like the present?"
"Hehehe…" Uzi grinned, shouldering the railgun on her back. "Let's give our guests a warm Copper 9 welcome."
"Um…" N hesitated. "I dunno Uzi, you're not as durable as we are… I don't like the idea of you down there."
"Bite me! I'm plenty durable."
"This isn't the same. You're not used to fighting like we are." N argued. "We're built for this. And their weapons managed to hurt me last time, which means they can definitely hurt you."
Uzi glared at him. "...I am still going there."
N did not glare back, but he did glance at V for support.
"If Uzi wants to get herself killed, who are we to stop her?" V shrugged.
"You forget I kicked your ass." Uzi snarled at her.
"You forget you were completely feral and under the Solver's influence. Unless you plan on doing the same here?" That actually got Uzi to look away. "Exactly. Face it purple, you're a liability here if you fight with us."
Uzi glared at her feet. "...Fuck. Fuck! Fine!" She snarled, kicking some snow. "But I'm staying up here, and if it looks like you need help, then don't expect me to sit back and do nothing!"
"That's all I ask." N said with a reassured smile, his gaze returning to the humans. "Now then…"
V chuckled, her wings opening behind her. "Party time."