Prologue: Holding on
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Kell grunted as Penny carried him into the ship. Turns out with the entire world in chaos no one bothered to guard one of the few active spaceports within the hive city. Not that it would matter in the long run as the fleet of Lunar wolves bombarded the planets surface. Putting him into the seat and inspecting the wound with her eyes, she noticed the major injuries upon his person as she looked within the ships medical bay area.
'Looks like the void bullet glanced you. A lucky shot, had it been a few inches closer up your torso you would have been beyond saving' She said, inspecting the various stimulants and medical tools at her disposal. Kell gave a chuckle.
'Just means that it was a bad shot' Kell grunted, yet a sudden gasp of pain flared within his body as Penny injected him with a stimulant, the drugs dispersing into his body at an accelerated rate as she applied first aid to the wound.
Penny took only ten minutes to stitch up the wound, a quick application of second skin ensured the stichings would not come loose from too much aggravation. Giving a satisfied nod she carried the assasin with her into the cockpit, where she got to work awakening the spacecraft.
'Do you know what you are doing?' Kell asked, seeing as Penny was flipping switches and other buttons across the entire operating panel.
'I have been uploaded with all scematics and information of all Imperial and potential human ships, along with a comprehensive database of multiple acrobatic and combat doctrines'
'Gothic please? Not many of us can speak cogboy' Kell asked, his tone riddled with confusion.
'It means Yes Kell... I can pilot this ship'
The engines of the vessel roared to life, Penny at the helm as the ship left from the blasted hangar doors. Their stretch into the atmosphere was rather uneventful. Yet Kell did not shake off the sudden anxiety bubbling in his stomach.
'So...what is the plan?' Kell asked.
'Simple... We will fly this ship as close as possible to the Spirit. You will use one of the emergency pods and infiltrate the ship. I will be the distraction so you don't get shot down. Once you are safely on the spirit I will Exfil from this ship and follow along in the vacuum of space. You need to breathe to survive... I don't. Meaning I have the best chance to survive and join you if the ship were to suddenly explode'
'That is a lot of if's... then what?'
'We find Horus... and put a bullet in his head'
'In a capital astartes ship? A gloriana class no less? This is your plan?' Kell replied, as the atmosphere rumbled their vessel as they started to break out from the stratosphere.
'If you have no other suggestions... then I would say you speak them out now'
Kell's silence was all that Penny needed to hear as the ship broke out from the upper atmosphere. The traitor armada fleet riddled before them as they opened fire to the fleeting ships trying to get off world.
'This gaggle of ships is rather handy for us to get closer to them... It might actually work if we play our cards right'
A sudden crash next to them showed that the spirit and the other vessels nearby were firing into their position. The sounds of explosions and debri's of ships littered the space around them as Penny applied thrust to the engines.
The ship lurched and groaned as it performed acrobatic feats that were almost impossible for such a large vessel. Strafing across flak fire and various macro shell explosions Penny used all of her machine might to perform death defying maneuvers.
A stray macro shell exploded near their flank, yet with a timed application of high energy thrust she was able to use the momentum of the explosion to dodge a secondary torpedo that had almost struck their hull. A quick application of full power to the engines allowed her to dodge another barrage of macro shells from a flanking ship as she glided across the void at full tilt speed.
'Damn woman you can fly!' Kell said, holding onto the seat as he felt the G forces exclude themselves onto his body.
'We're not out of the woods yet!' Penny replied, as another barrage of flak fire was being dodged by her skillful application of piloting. As the seconds pass by the space around them became more and more hostile. Already she had various warnings blare upon her status screens as engine one was failing. She knew at this rate the ship will not make it.
'Kell! Get to the pod! I don't know how much longer I can keep this up!' Penny said.
Kell unlatched himself from the seat, the sudden loss of gravity was momentary in it's disorientation but as a trained assasin he quickly regained his footing. Gliding across the area he recovered his weapons and wargear. Yet making his way to the pods was proving to be dificult as the ship was lurching and twisting within space. His momentum was being thrown around by the sudden and violent maneuvers.
'Are you in the pod yet!' Shouted Penny, as the ship yawwed sharply. Kell struck a side panel as he tried to wright himself back up, yet the sudden lurch in the other direction threw him into chaos.
'Not yet! Can you fly a little smoother!' Kell replied, the ship lurched downwards as he struck the roof of the corridor. Grasping upon the side railings, he held on as the ship experienced all manner of moves.
'It's either that or we blow up! I don't think we have much options!' Penny replied as the ship groaned from the sudden and violent turns.
'Perfect' muttered Kell, his form holding on for deer life as he clawed his way to the escape pods.
Making his way to the room, Kell had to give a scream of frustration. It seems the last crew had decided the emergency pods were not a priority due to the fact that only two of them seemed to be here. One clearly looked like it had seen better days as the hatch and such was blasted apart. While the other was rusted shut. The rest looked like they had suffered from oncoming flak fire and such their pods were missing, only the outer airlock doors were the only thing holding back the void.
Kell made his way to the rusted bulkhead door, yet even with his strenght the lock would not budge.
'It's jammed!' Kell screamed, as another hail of flack fire peppered the outer hull of the ship.
'You gotta get it open Kell! Find a bloody way!' replied Penny, as the ship lurched again, missing a macro cannon shell by the smallest of margings.
He pulled out his exocist pistol, a sidearm usually used for self defesne but packed a similar punch to his rifle. With careful aiming as the ship was lurching, he targeted the inner pins holding the bulkhead closed. A few rounds discharged as he tried again to budge the jammed door.
Penny heard the shots echo across the room. She knew that Kell would be okay but that minor distration was enough to pull her attention away from the act of dodging. A sudden warning blaring on her screen as she watched a torpedo appear on her right flank.
'Shit!' Penny screamed as the ship suffered a sudden breach. Atmosphere purged itself out from the ship in a flood as Penny tried to right the ship back to a stable flightpath. Yet she felt a sluggish response from the controls as more atmosphere leaked out from the sudden hole.
'Kell!' Penny screamed as she tried to desperately marneuver the ship to safety, yet another explosion ripped into a second part of the ship.
The power and life support systems of the ship died as emergency lighting blazed across the now vaccum of the ship. As the ship gave it's final gasp of life the final ordinance, a macro shell set the ship into a destroyed wreck.
Horus looked upon the destroyed ship outside the window of his suite. He had to give credit to the pilot of that vessel as they had survived longer than all the other ships. Yet in the end nothing was to stop him in his glorious purpose.
'I am rather dissapointed in you... Erebus'
The preacher of the dark gods looked up from his kneeling position. Confusion upon his eyes as he spoke
'My Warmaster'
Horus turned around at him, the look of dissapointment and Ire clear within his eyes as he looked upon the preacher. He took a few steps towards him as the astartes continued to kneel.
'Did you really think... I had not seen you little "Stunt". Honestly an Assassin to kill my father of all things... you truly are bold to do such a thing behind my back'
'My warmaster... I can explain'
'I am not angry with you Erebus... I am just... dissapointed'
'It would have worked my warmaster... the asssasin would have succeeded had he achieved his mission. For he only had to aquire the blood of your father for him to be unstopable'
The sound of laughter echoed across the room, Horus looked upon the preacher as he gave out a demented, screaching laugh. Erebus did not know what to expect from this sudden act but he missed the moment that Horus grabbed him by the throat.
His face was no longer smiling nor laughing.
'Listen here and listen good worm... None shall kill my father. For that honour is mine and mine alone... anyone whom I find disobeying my order will be facing my wrath... And I will not be merciful in delivering my judgement'
'My...my...my lord' Erebus said, his lungs burning as he felt his strength start to fade, yet before the darkness claimed him Horus casted him to the floor. He was hacking and coughing as the warmaster looked upon him.
'Do I make myself clear?' Horus asked, only accepting a single answer.
'Crystal...my...lord' Erebus said, as he slowly righted himself back again. Horus took a piece of useless paper from one of the side drawers and threw it at the preacher.
'Clean yourself up... your dirtying my floor'
Erebus wiped the blood and spit from the ground as he crawled upon the floor like a worm, Horus had a look of disgust upon his face at such defiance. As the preacher left the room another stepped forth from the shadow. His face and such almost looking like the warmaster himself.
'What do you want done with him father?' Ezekyle Abbadon said, his voice gruff as Horus looked back towards the wrecked ship.
'Keep an eye out for him. Only a fool trust a snake to not strike at the oppotune moment'
'As you command father' said his first company captain. Doing a quick salute as he left his father's quarters.
Left to his silence, Horus raised a glass of vintage wine from a goblet. It had the telltale corruption of chaos as he took a gentle sip from it's tainted edge. His voice echoed in his room with a sense of pride.
'You will die father... I will see to it personally'
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Space is cold and silent.
Penny looked upon the figure within the wrecked ship. Their face was frozen as their mask showed signs of ice forming. Their face was frozen behind the mask yet she did not wish to disturb their body. Something sentimental and almost sacred compulsed her to stay her hand.
Kell... I'm sorry... she thought, giving the body one gentle touch as they floated within the now destroyed ship. She used her arms to pull across the rooms of the ship, eventually reaching the outside where before her the massive Vengeful Spirit loomed.
The vessel had morphed from it's original blueprints within Penny's mind, indeed the vessel was no longer recognizable from the images she was provided, as though the ship had "changed" and morphed into the abomination before her. Thrusters popped from her shouders as she glided her way to one of the weapon ports, this one was a minor port that was mostly seemed to be used for flak shells. Waiting for the moment the shell was discharged, she leaped within the breach as a round was ejected from it's barrel. Putting her thrusters to work she managed to reach the end of the barrel chamber as the breach was being opened from the other side, the sea of workers and corrupted crew headless of her infiltration as she took to the roof of the chamber.
I'm inside... now to find information on Horus Penny thought. Her actions delicate and graceful as she made her way within the ship.
Chaotic pulsations of flesh and metal littered the corridors and chambers of the spirit, already she could identify countless errors and warnings from her systems as she was unable to analyse the almost living material. This made her pause in concern as this was an unknown factor.
And such foolishness has made many dead from such blunders.
Scanning across the scematics she had within her system. She made her way within the more "resonable" spots within the spirit. Most notably the inner reactor chambers and such. Ionizing radiation would be rather difficult for organic life to function, yet would make the perfect place for her to hide from the enemies senses.
She took careful vigilance as she traveled deeper into the ship. Yet she felt herself annoyed by an almost silent static echoing within her system memories. Another task for another day perhaps.
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Many months later
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Time had lost it's meaning on this ship.
There had not been an inch of this vessel she has not ventured forth. Barring those where astartes or personnel made the journey risky. She had learned much upon this ship, rotation of guards, placement of armaments, even the very reactors powering this ship were not outside of her reach. Yet she felt frustration upon her systems.
Penny was feeling something malicious try and enter her.
It started small, static that was mere annoyance. Yet this almost useless static proved to be a huge problem later on. Now she started to see projections upon her vision, phantoms and ghost images that made her analysis innacurate or completely useless. The static had started to get louder as the days, weeks, months had passed.
How long had she been here? She...she was starting to forget.
No...focus...I have to discard the memory blocks that are too corrupted... I have to cut it out
A hiss from one of her memory ports revealed one of her many memory chips. Gazing upon the almost corroded and mutated piece of technology made her realise that this vessel was dangerous. Perhaps boarding upon this vessel was a mistake.
Master... I am upon the Vengeful Spirit... my core components are being compromised... what is my directive?
She expected a response from her master, various system checks showed that her communication with her blade was still functional. Yet only silence greeted her from the response.
She tried again.
Master... This is Penny... I am aboard the vengeful spirit... my core components are being compromised... do you hear me?
The silence that greeted her brought nothing but dread. Realization had reared it's ugly head at the situation.
She was alone, unable to even call due to the corrupting nature of this ship. Yet she did not embrace this despair, instead did damage control. Her priority was now changed, instead of the mission she changed her prime directive.
Survive and restore communications.
The static within the ship was beginning to amplify within Penny's systems. Already she had detected multiple malfunctions in her various memory cores and primary systems. Even daily maintenance actions did nothing to hold it back.
Trying to analyse the static just resulted in Penny screaming as the code started to intergrate itself to her functions, forcing her to destroy the process before it overwhelmed her kernel operations.
Master...This is Penny...can you hear me?
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Present Day
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Ma...Mas...Master... ple...please...re... . ..respond
The static was pounding in her system, already she had been forced to destroy almost 70 percent of her memory banks due to the residue corruption festering within her cores. The area she had taken residence in was covered in a cold permafrost, a precaution to prevent whatever physical corruption that was within the ship to intrude upon her.
She could feel herself slipping, a thumping hum of binaric scrap flooded her audio receptors. She could feel the madness creep itself ever so slowly into her, corrupting her.
Pl..pleas...please... Master...I...I...I cant...
Penny
That one word brought forth a new lease of strength from her. She desperately did all she could to confirm and authenticate the return signature. Tears of oil and blood dripped from her eyes as she received confirmation of it's authenticity.
Mas...Master...
Penny... Listen to me... I only have a moment to give this message
From the pained voice on the other side, Penny could feel that whatever the Emperor was going to tell her was of the upmost priority.
I need you to abandon your primary objective. My son is too fortified as of this moment for any one person to kill... Instead I need you to relay the co-ordinates of the Spirit to me
Mas...Master... I...I am losing m...myself...in this...hel..hel...hellhole...I...I cannot...I cannot endure this
I need you to try Penny... I need you to endure as long as you can. The longer you remain on the Spirit the better our chances are when the time is right to strike at the warmaster... do you understand Penny? I need you to endure... endure as long as you can.
Ma...master...It hurts... This...this ship...I...My strength...It hurts
I will try to contact you as much as I can Penny... But I'm afraid there will be no help from the Imperium... I will stay with you in this... but you must endure... you hear me Penny... you must endure
The silence greeted her once again, as the pounding static of scrap code tempted her every second of every day. She screamed as countless burst of static chaos blazed into her memories, forcing her to rip out another of her cores.
She had but a few left... but she had to endure.
She had to Endure