Sotavasara.net

Chapter One
The Welcoming Darkness

Empty halls of the long-lost Basilica of Divine Tears echoed with the clanking of the power armoured warriors. A lone spotter light that was attached to the leading warrior's boltgun luminated a small, shallow space of the empty darkness that had taken over the Basilica. The ground was filled with dust and rubble that had gathered here through the course of decades. By the time the Imperium had learned about the threat that was pestering this world, the Hive World of Rabal Primus had already been dead for more than eight years.

The warrior at the head of the ten-strong squad raised a hand to signal a possible threat ahead. The rest of the squad dropped to one knee and pointed their bolters at the darkness ahead. So far nobody had seen a glimpse of whatever had killed the population of this Emperor-forsaken Hive City.

"What is it, Palatine?", somebody asked though the internal vox-feed in their power armours. The leading woman gazed through the darkness, her augmented Sabbat-pattern helmet's prey-sight helping her detect the infra-red wavelengths of the space around her.
"Nothing, I guess. I think I saw something move, but it must be the prey-sight malfunctioning again", replied the Palatine. "We musn't stay here. Move forward, Sisters", said the Palatine and continued onward.

The rest of the squad followed their leader and pressed on deeper into the dark corridors of the Basilica Imperialis. The monumental building, normally filled with hymns and light of the Emperor, now felt dark and oppressing. The lone, bleeping sound of the new recruits, Sister Daphne's, auspex was the only sound there now. That, and the heavy footsteps of their power armours.

Surprisingly, the Basilica was completely unscathed. There were no signs of battle, not a single bullet mark on the walls, no signs of bloodstains or explosives. The woman leading the squad gazed through the darkness.

Her prey-sight had been malfunctioning since they had arrived on this system, probably a failure of hers to take care of the machine-spirit of her master-crafted armour. Her armament and armour were legendary throughout the Order of Pure Redemption, the Regalia d'Rosa, as it was called. A beautiful rose pattern ran through her armour plates, which of course had given it it's name. The only downside was the fact that the machine-spirit had become quite vain because of it, requiring the Palatine to spend almost an hour daily polishing her Regalia.

"Activate your gun-lights", she ordered. The squad complied immediately, ten seeker-lights activating instantaneously. The much-needed lighting revealed nothing, however. Palatine had hoped that something would've been scared out of it's hiding by the surprise flash of the seeker-lights. Palatine was particularly fond of the seeker-light wargear. Besides working as a flashlight, the light projector also shone on several other wave lengths, effectively acting as a targeter for the squads' helmet visors, high-lighting the target even if it used a cloaking device or other some other form of sick sorcery.

"Let's wait here for a while. The other squads are still trying to find their way in. Taking the main cathedral would be a suicide, if there is any form of strong resistance."
"Yes, Palatine", came the quick reply. The Palatine focused on her vox-link, while her squad took the defensive formation on the corridor.

"Palatine Sacerdos", called her second-in-command, Celestian Superior Catheryne, "I think we should press on. Standing here might alert the enemy of our presence. Besides, there is no glory in staying with our arms in our laps."

The Superior had always been a rival of Palatine Justine Sacerdos. Most of reluctance to serve under Sacerdos' command was caused by a religious schism. Celestian Superior had always been overly enthusiastic about everything, not excluding being a strict follower of the Order's code, which was more militant and savage than was customary for the Adepta Sororitas.

Sacerdos on the other hand was of surprisingly gentle nature, with her teachings of faith including subjects such as compassion and wisdom, things that were on the edge of being heretical during these dark times. She had even been married once to a like-minded preacher. Together they had written a thesis, called "De Servitute, De Fidei". That's when her problems within the Order of Pure Redemption had started.

"Your concerns are noted, Sister Catheryne. However, there's no reason to advance without a clear picture of the situation. The rest were held up by a series of collapsed hallways and corridors. Until they show up, there's not much more we can do without risking the entire operation.", replied Sacerdos, with badly concealed irritation in her voice.

The Superior tutted and turned on her heels. "Too impatient", thought Sacerdos.
"Milady, the auspex is showing signs of movement!", called Sister Daphne.

In a second Sacerdos was on her guard.
"Which way?"
"Fourty yards ahead of us. Just outside our seeker-lights."

Sacerdos cursed under her breath. How could she have let her guard down so? She gripped her master-crafted Godwyn-De'az-pattern bolter, and began advancing. The rest of her squad automatically took their positions behind her, boltguns pointing at the yet invisible target.

"Thirty yards!", announced Sister Daphne.
Somehow that fact disturbed Sacerdos. Even if the target was hiding behind one of the columns that decorated the many hallways of the Basilica, the seeker-lights should've spotted it already. She quickly snapped the bolter on the mag-pole on her backpack, changing her weapons for a master-crafted power sword and a trusty bolt pistol. She hit the activation rune on her sword. She was rewarded with a silent crack and a hiss of air, as the disruptor fields on her sword dissolved the air molecules coming in touch of it. Small, blue flames flickered on the gold-coloured blade.

"Fifteen yards!"
Still no sign of whatever was there.
"What's the size of it? Are you sure you're not picking a signature of some vermin?" grunted Sacerdos.
"Man-sized. I've re-calibrated the sensors twice already. Didn't change a thing, milady.", came the answer.

They walked onwards. Sacerdos knew they were getting closer to the inner gates of the main cathedral, the heart of the Basilica-complex. She didn't like this. Her prey-sights didn't pick up a thing either.

"Five yards! Zero yards!"

Sacerdos stopped. This was too odd to be just a coincidence. First her prey-sight had been malfunctioning here and there, and now the auspex was picking up ghost signatures.

"Nothing here, Palatine", said Sister Catheryne. Somehow she seemed quite smug about it.
"Shut it", snapped Sacerdos, while listening and glaring around them.

They had stopped in the middle of the hallway. On their right was a large statue of Saint Sanquinius, one of the Primarchs of the Emperor. This part of the Basilica-complex seemed to be dedicated to him, judging by the many icons, painting and statues that depicted the fallen Primarch. Ghosts in the dark indeed. Maybe the stress or the eerie light of their seeker-lights caused it, but the paintings seemed like they were moving, the eyes following their every move. Then it hit her.

"Target left, in front of the painting. Open fire!", she shouted on her battlegroup-wide vox-channel, and raised her pistol, putting a few rounds towards the painting on the opposite side of the large statue.

Her squad joined in after just a second of hesitation, their muzzle flashes lighting the hallway, whereas the explosive, thrice-blessed bolts created huge craters on the wall and statue. Sacerdos bit her teeth. Even though she personally didn't think that the religious art was anything else than just art, her peers didn't share her views. She was in for a scolding in the near future.

However it would have to wait. One of the many bolts that rained on the wall seemed to burst on mid-air, filling the air with sparkles. Not long after that the air before them seemed to wave and blur, before a bright light filled the space. Sacerdos' photo-visor protected her eyes for the most part, but she still had a hard time seeing.

"In the Emperor's name, stop firing!", came a panicked shout. The light had stopped shining, revealing the thing that had been hidden under it. To Sacerdos' amazement it was a woman, glad in black leather vest and high boots. She had a cloak made of silvery substance, and she had a fist-sized object hanging from her neck. On her belt she carried an auto-pistol, although it was obvious that she didn't have any rounds in.

"Seize fire, seize fire!", shouted Sacerdos. Her squad obeyed immediately. As the dust settled, they found themselves staring at a clearly startled woman. Without a moment's hesitation, Sacerdos brought her armoured fist on the woman's abdomen, knocking the air out of her lungs. The woman fell on her knees, gasping for air.

"If your life is dear to you, I'd recommend you to stop hiding behind whatever you were using, and start talking.", said Sacerdos, with an obvious threatening tone in her voice. The woman took a few seconds to catch her breath, before she stood up. Sacerdos' squad was still pointing their weapons at her.

"I am princess Mariana Odyss d'Fargo, youngest daughter of the Planetary Governor, Hector d'Fargo.I have been hiding in this Basilica for the last eight months.", she managed to say between her panting.

Sacerdos had of course heard the name before, when the commanders of the initial strike-force had been briefed about their mission. Certainly, the princess' looks, if she really was a princess, were one of a starved survivor. Her facial bones were pointing outwards, her hair was a mess, and she had dark lines under her eyes. She couldn't have been older than nineteen, which matched the age of the Governor's youngest daughter.

"And do you know what has happened here?", asked Sacerdos. Mariana's expression became even more stressed.
"We were attacked."
"By who? When did this happen? How are you still alive after seventeen years of the initial distress signal?"
"I don't know the name of those things. I've seen them only twice in my life. Creatures clad in flesh, walk on fours, some walk on two feet like humans. But they're not humans. They are more like machines. They steal bodies, use them as playthings."
"When did they first appear?", replied Sacerdos, now being careful not to scare the girl now that she was talking.
"Maybe twenty-six years ago. I don't remember that far back.", came the answer.

Sacerdos quickly did the calculation in her head. Twenty-six local years were close to seventeen and half Terran years.
"One last question: what are they called, and are they still here?"

Mariana nodded. "I call them Strein. And they never left, not entirely."

Sacerdos turned to her Sisters. "Let the Canoness know what we have found here. Tell that the enemy is most likely still present."
Then she turned back to Mariana. "You are coming with us, pricess. We cannot rule out the fact that you have been corrupted by whatever lurks on this planet.

Then she gazed along the hallway, fixing her eyes on the gates of the main cathedral, and their primary target, the sacred relics of the temple.

"Follow me", Sacerdos said, knowing her orders were followed.




Tuollaisen tulin vääntäneeksi. Sistereistä ei ole mitään fantasiontia kummoisempaa vissiin vielä täällä, joten tässä novellin eka kappale. Ja Orderit on tarkoituksella eri nimisiä. Asiaan tullaan palaamaan.

Selvä.

Sait kiinnostumaan, hyvää kielenkäyttöä ja kuvailua, ja selkeä ja vahva kytkoo henki kulki tekstin mukana koko matkan. Jos jotain miinusta etsitään niin pelkään pahoin että arvasin jo mitä hirviöitä on kyseessä, toivon olevani väärässä kuhan sitä jatkoa tulee ja homma selviää (ei koska olisi huono valinta, vaan koska yllärit on kivoja).

Kokonaisuudessaan oikein nautinnollista kamaa lukea.

Chapter Two:
The Curious and the Weak


The squad moved through the dark Halls of Sanquinius as quietly as possible. Sacerdos could sense their anxiousness, and it wasn't hard to guess the reason for it. In the middle of their column walked the self-proclaimed princess of this long lost world. Not only did her sudden appearance and means of camouflaging herself seem more than suspicious, but her presence also made another point clear. The planet was not as empty as they had anticipated. And if there were any humans left, it could mean that the things that had hunted them decades ago could still be here as well.

From Mariana's description Sacerdos had a vague understanding of the possible threat. The Strein seemed like a form of hyper-aggressive Xenos species. According to Mariana, they wore metal armour and carried advanced weaponry. Sacerdos hated going against something she really didn't know anything about. For all she could tell, Mariana could've been talking about Eldar pirates or some tech-enthusiastic Ork tribe. Eventually they would most likely find out the truth, but how many lives would be lost in order to learn that truth?

"Halt!", commanded Sacerdos, as she saw the huge form of the inner cathedral's heavy doors. The squad stopped immediately, forming a firing line across the hallway. Sacerdos walked a bit further, before lighting her own seeker-light.

In it's light she could now see and marvel this display of human craftsmanship. The gate itself was nearly thirty feet tall marble slab, and it was covered with skillfully sculpted busts of different Imperial Saints, who in turn were gathered around a golden image of the God-Emperor Himself.

"Ave Imperator", whispered Sacerdos under her breath, and formed the sign of Aquila on her chest. Then she signaled Sister Daphne to her.
"Take Sister Ananke and Sister Miranova with you and try to find a way to open those gates. There should be a control room quite nearby. The complex is not locked down, so we should be able to open the gates."
"Yes, milady. Shall I leave the auspex to Celestian Superior Catheryne?"
"Negative. We can manage without it. You need it more. There should be a control room somewhere in the vicinity. Maintain vox-link at all times, and let us know of your position at all times."
"Yes, Milady", said Daphne, then she turned and took the other two Sisters with her. Sacerdos watched them vanish through a small door at the side of the hallway.

Turning to her squad, she willed the vox-helmet of her helmet to be activated.
"Sacerdos here, we've reached the Sanquine Gate. Battlegroup, what's your status? Over."
She listened for a while, but got no answer. Sacerdos waited a while, then tried again, but still she didn't get any answer. She then started to flip through secondary frequencies, but once again, all her efforts were rewarded by an irritating static sound.

"Catheryne! Try to contact the Canoness or anyone from the main force. I cannot seem to be able to contact them", she shouted to her second in command, who was busy trying to think how to breach the gate without causing unnecessary damage, if the controls were beyond their ability to repair or operate.

Catheryne touched her helmet, activating the vox-caster of her Sabbat-pattern helmet. Sacerdos could hear her efforts over the vox-frequencies, but it sounded quite blurred and weak.

"Thank you, Catheryne. Your help has already brought some illumination to this darkness of unsolved mysteries."
Catheryne walked next to her, watching the Palatine with inquisitive eyes, then leaning towards her ear.
"Palatine, what is going on? We can't contact the main force, and we're cut off from the main objective by this damned gate", she whispered.
"Calm yourself, Catheryne. This deep inside the Basilica the connections are bound to be poor. Besides, that door will not hold us for long", Sacerdos replied with an assuring voice.
Catheryne sighed. "I know. I guess I'm on the edge because of her", she murmured, while giving a quick glance towards the princess, "her explanations and stories are a bit too vague and she doesn't really look like she's been fighting for her survival for decades."

Sacerdos studied Mariana while she listened to Catheryne. In her mind, Sacerdos knew her lieutenant had a point. The cloaking device she had used to hide herself was nothing like Sacerdos had ever seen before, and she seemed to be way too relaxed and comfortable around people. Sacerdos vaguely remembered when she was discovered by her Order from a distant, long-dead world far, far away. She remembered nothing before that, but she remembered how the armoured Sisters had struck terror in her heart. Sacerdos shrugged her shoulders. Maybe Mariana wasn't such a coward as she had been.

"Palatine, Sister Daphne has reached the console room", Sister Helia announced behind her, "she says it will take a minute or two to open the doors. She asks you not to leave without them."
Sacerdos nodded. "Acknowledged, we will regroup here."
She turned to her squad. "The doors will open shortly. As much as I would like to wait for the rest of the Convent to return, we cannot just simply stand here loitering forever. The Basilica has been in full lock-down for quite a while, so nothing has left or entered during that time. When the doors open, be prepared for anything."

Her squad nodded in unison, taking their positions around the doors, eyes and gun barrels pointed towards the crack between the two large doors.

Sacerdos walked to the center of the hallway, confident that her armour and the Ecclesiarchal rosarius on her neck would offer sufficient protection for her. She unsheathed her power sword and drew her bolt pistol, readying them both. She caught a glimpse of movement at the corner of her eye.

"Princess, you should take cover behind Sister Catheryne. It would be quite troublesome for us if you get killed in a crossfire now."
The princess looked annoyed. She was standing on the open hallway, her pistol raised and a fierce smile on her face. Apparently she was eager to fight and defend herself, although once again, she didn't seem to be that nervous. Maybe she felt comfortable because she had quite a number of warriors beside her.

The princess was just about to open her mouth to voice her objection, but seeing Sacerdos's stern eyes, she quietly complied, although she still held her pistol in her hand.

Sacerdos turned her head towards the Sanquine Gates, as she heard the heavy servomotors activate inside the walls. Just a few seconds after that, the gate started to open, although at a snail's pace. Apparently Sister Daphne had succeeded in her task.

"Well done, Daphne. The gate is opening. Hurry back here.", Sacerdos said to her vox-caster.
"Thank you, milady", came the reply, "we'll be there shortly."

"Movement ahead!", shouted Catheryne. Sacerdos watched the gate open. It had barely opened more than two inches. The space behind the gates was pitch-black.
"How can you see anything through that gap? It is not that wide yet", Sacerdos said. She kept her tone neutral, not wanting to sound like she doubted her second-in-command's judgement.
"I didn't but the seeker-light marked something on my visor for a second", Catheryne explained.
"I saw that too", Sister Agnes said on the other side of the hallway, where she had taken cover behind a marble pillar.
"Keep your eyes peeled, Sisters. If something tries to come and kill us, then show it the true fury of the Adepta Sororitas", Sacerdos shouted. She activated her power sword, raised it over her head, and shouted: "This day we reclaim what was lost, in the name of the God-Emperor! Let no one think that the might of the Emperor can be defeated this easily, nor that His retribution can not find them! Ave Imperator!"
"Ave Imperator!" her squad shouted in response, as the gates kept opening. Now they were wide enough for three humans to walk side-by-side.

Then Sacerdos' prey-sight finally spotted it.
"Hold your fire! I see a human inside!" she ordered, while fixing her gaze on the humanoid infra-red figure.
"Come out, we can see you! Help has arrived!" Sacerdos shouted in Low-Gothic, hoping that the person inside would understand it.

It took a while, but then she saw someone peek through the ever widening gap between the gates. The face seemed to be masculine, although it was hard to tell because he was totally bald, and his features were twisted and ragged, like he hadn't eaten for weeks. The skin colour was pale with a sickly greenish tint, that made his face look ill. His breathing was rasping and random, his inhales and exhales switching their rhythm in a bizarre fashion. His eyes were squinted, the light of their seeker-lights blinding him. He stayed hidden behind the door, backing up as the gates kept opening. He seemed to be very afraid.

"Portia, secure him. No deaths, no risks. If he does something suspicious, shoot him." Sacerdos said calmly, not wanting to scare the bewildered man, causing him to do something that would give away their position.
"Aye, ma'am."

Sacerdos observed as Sister Portia started walking towards the man, her bolter in her grip, ready to be raised and fired in a second. The man fixed his eyes towards him, quivering and trembling as she came closer. The gates were almost fully open now, and the scared male was running out of space to hide.

Portia was standing just a few feet away, her other hand raised in a reassuring manner, signalling the man and her squad to relax. Sacerdos hadn't chosen Portia by chance for this. Portia was a devout follower of the faith-system Sacerdos and her late husband had created. She was compassionate when needed, but didn't forget her duty as a Daughter of the Emperor. Her calmness was quite useful at times like these.

The man seemed to feel Portia's aura of calmness. His breathing wasn't so erratic, and he had stopped trembling. The gates clanked loudly as they stopped moving. Now there was a fifteen-feet wide archway ahead of them. That, and the man.

"It's alright, you're safe", said Portia one last time. She was just a step away from the man, her left arm stretched out.

"Look out!" shouted Mariana, her sudden scream piercing the dark silence. Portia turned to watch her, and was clearly about to say something. Her words were cut short by another sound.

A long, inhuman bellowing that shook the ground startled them all, and much to Sacerdos' horror, she saw it's source. The man's mandible had split into two from the middle, his face and skull now totally visible. His mouth and tongue were covered with curved, teeth-like bones, and his two mandibles were stretched out, making his maw bigger than a human's head.

The creature moved from it's hiding, gripping Portia's left wrist with it's hand, pulling her down and pinning her to the ground. Before anybody could do anything, the creature was on top of her. As Sacerdos was raising her bolt pistol, she saw two metallic spikes explode through the creature's rib cage and into the Sister below her. Portia screamed, as her armour was pierced and her flesh torn.

Soon six bolters fired at the creature, massive explosive bolts ripping through it's body, spraying splintered bones, torn guts and immense amounts of blood around. Somehow it still kept standing, pulling it's spikes out of Portia's body and continuing by systematically hacking her limbs of, one by one. Portia's screams turned Sacerdos' guts. Their weapons seemed to be powerless, while her Sister was in peril, and she couldn't stop it. Not in time for Portia.

Sacerdos discarded her pistol, gripping her power sword with two hands and charging the beast. Her squad stopped firing as they watched her run through the archway. She slammed against the creature, her armoured bulk knocking the creature down, making it drop Portia's screaming, limbless body down. It rose up almost instantly, but it wasn't fast enough. Screaming in anger and fury, Sacerdos cut the creature in half, separating it's torso from the waist. It slumped down, finally immobile, and stayed there.

Portia was still screaming on the floor, her blonde hair coloured red by her own blood, her shattered limbs scattered around her. Two Sisters, Sacerdos couldn't see who, ran to Portia and dragged her back to the hallway. She was unlikely to survive, with so much blood bleeding out each second. Sacerdos noticed that she was standing in a pool of crimson herself. Some of it was from the creature, some of it had sprayed from Portia's severed arteries. She turned her slightly, looking at the creature that had attacked Portia.

She deactivated and sheathed her sword and lifted both halves of the creature. She noticed the unusual weight of the monster, although it was much smaller than she was, about the size of an adolescent male. She carried the creature back to hallway. When she had reached a relatively safe distance from the archway, she dropped the two halves of the body, but kept walking. Mariana was standing behind the backs of the Sisters, and for the first time she looked shaken.

"I-I'm sorry, I was standing behind Sister Catheryne, so I couldn't see it before it was too late. I didn't know..." Her talk was disrupted by Sacerdos' armoured hand gripping her throat, lifting her up and choking her slowly.
"Shut up! Because of my good will and foolish mercy I did not interrogate you properly the first time you told about these creatures. It cost me a warrior, and I am not going to repeat my mistakes. What was that?!" She shouted through her helmet.
"P-please..." Mariana whimpered, but Sacerdos strengthened her grip around her throat.
"Was that a Strein? Are all like that?"
"Yes, no", came the chocked answers. Sacerdos loosened her grip a bit.
"Was that some scout? Was it a human, a xenos or a Daemon? What is it?"

"Palatine!" came a shout behind her. "Look!"
Reluctantly Sacerdos tore her eyes away from Mariana's face and looked behind her. In proper illumination of the seeker-lights, she could see the body of the monster. The first thing she noticed were the remains of the clothings, clearly belonging to a serf or a man of lower caste. Two large spikes had torn through it's sides from the inside, and in the light Sacerdos could see that they were jointed like the legs of a spider were. Strange glow was shining through the spikes and through the skin of it's torso, not unlike a plasma canister of a plasma gun. Parts of it's skin and guts were coated in odd, silvery metal plates. Sacerdos thought them as bionics at first, but she didn't see any wires or other Mechanicus-like features on the metal plate, although they looked like some sort of machinery.

One thing was certain. That creature had been a human once.

Sacerdos turned back to Mariana and let her down. She fell to her knees and coughed violently, as she gasped for air. Sacerdos offered her hand, a sign of of apology. Mariana frightfully looked at it, but took it anyway.
"Are there more of them? Are they all as powerful as that?" Sacerdos asked, now in a calm and friendly tone.
"Yes, there are. At least, there were more of them, years ago. And that, Palatine, was just a foot-soldier, a pawn. The rest are bigger and stronger. I will tell more later, but not now. That bellow was not a war cry, it was a warning, a summon. More will be here shortly, and we are too open here."

Sacerdos nodded. "Understood."
She turned towards the rest of her squad. "We need to fall back immediately. We'll regroup with Daphne and the rest and defend ourselves somewhere else. How's Portia?"
Catheryne shook her head. "Alive, but just barely. Agnes' advanced med-kit and hospitaller's skills helped to cauterize the bleeding, but Portia will die soon without any medical attention."
Sacerdos nodded again. "Very well. Sister Helia, you take Portia and her belongings back outside the complex. The landing shuttles should be there. Once you reach them, tell them about the situation and ask for reinforcements. Understood?"
Sister Helia watched Portia and her broken limbs, clearly pondering the fact that she most likely wouldn't be able to regroup with the rest of the squad.
"Understood", she responded.
"Good. Now make some sort of stretchers for Portia and let Sister Helia take her out."

Losing two Sisters this soon in the mission was no small thing. Their Celestian squad was alone and outgunned, and now they were down to eight bolters.

As Sacerdos watched Helia drag Portia away on a large decorative shield, which was covered with a torn flag from the wall to keep Portia's body and limbs from slipping away, she sighed heavily.

"The rest of you, move on. Inform Daphne that we're meeting with her."








Kommentteja sitten vaan! Mitä piditte tästä osasta, mitä haluatte lisää? Kaikki palaute otetaan avosylin vastaan.