Chapter 6 - War Eternal - IC

"Well, Tomasu, it appears that you are now my problem to deal with. If you are a traitor planning to betray us, you will have no better opportunity. If you want to prove my suspicions are unfounded, you will submit to my command." Cassiel was genuinely curious to see what the proud Librarian would do.

He stares daggers at the helmeted dark angel.

"Wary yourself. I tire of your accusations. However, I will follow your lead since you are obviously the more versed on these enemies."

He hadn't met all of the order yet, and it was within reality that Cassiel was also a member, but based on his casual attitude towards the soulless, it was doubtful.

He looks around the cramped area, and the exit leading into a dark hallway with the same green circuitry running through the walls.
"It looks like we ended up in a closet. Im not getting any response on the vox. So, lord of the watch, where do we go from here?"

Hydrako blinked off the effects of the teleportation and dislocation from reality as he took in the trophies around him. When the rest of his squad failed to materialise, he felt as though his arms were missing and he had only his wits and his teeth to destroy the xenos with. He would still be able to do it, but it would be less efficient. The gruff voice of the space wolf a moment later gave him the feeling of at least one arm being back at his side. They should be here. We waited the designated time and entered together. This is a ploy of the soulless to weaken us. Hydrako still had his storm bolter and chainaxe drawn and raised the bolter to scan the room of trophies down the barrel. He quickly assessed those that were closest, looking for sings of movement or life. We will find them, he says with finality. When Grimnir moves off in search of an exit, Hydrako follows, covering his movements as they looked for an exit. The vox is unresponsive, so we must find them the natural way. There's a sound of soft inhalation as Hydrako breathes through his nose, hunting for a scent. The scent of other Astartes.

Sapiens settled himself. This was only his second time through a Soulless gate, and he remained perplexed by them. Clearly, they werent too far from the surface; likely deep underground. How did they manage translocation without the warp as a transition medium. It would take lifetimes to figure it out.

As for their location, either they had activated some form of defense mechanism that scattered users, or they had lacked the proper encoding to indicate a shared destination. Seeing the fellow astartes, he did the deathwatch hand-signs for *VOICE SILENCE*, *RADIO SILENCE* and *CROUCH*. He offered to Seraphen his mechadendrite to connect into a dataport to allow direct comms without bleeding any signal.

"I have been in similar situations before, but if we are to survive you must follow my lead. I will do my best to mask our presence-to make us appear as one of them, electronically at least-so that we may have the time to find the others or accomplish our mission. Do you understand?"

Even with this, they might actually be in an advantageous position. If they could sabotage the awakening protocols for these soldiers, they could drastically reduce risk.

Serephan, silent behind his helmet, scans the scenario.

The amount of warriors in this area alone could rival an entire chapter, perhaps even the legions of old.

His bolter was in a double handed grip, but the master artificed chainsword was resting off his hip, ready to reduce these robotic warriors to dust.

He looks back at Sapiens, his visage obscured behind the helm.
He nods his ascent.


***

Tomasu waited for a reply. Instead the reply was cold silence.

After a moment it began to put the stormseer on edge. He had been hurling threats an insults his way since they had joined up. Now they were alone, would the Dark Angel cause him harm?

"If you say so." he says sardonically.

Without waiting for orders he peers out the only opening. There was hallways, 2 meters across in both directions. Multiple halls branched off in both directions.

"Its a warp-cursed labyrinth." he reports, though at this point he just wanted some sort of noise to fill the air.

***

Hydrako's penchant for smell was nowhere near as fine tuned as the wolf's. One thing his nose excelled at picking out was the scent of blood.

He smelled none.

Likewise, Grimnir only identified a faint ozone discharge, likely from the stasis fields keeping the specimens in captivity.

As you both examine them more closely, there were some familiar xenos in here. A few chambers down was a loxatyl, quadrupedal reptillian mercenaries. In the other direction was a human wearing tau armor, a gue'la, traitor to the imperium of man. The under suit was meant for use in cold weather, the stasis units even preserved snow in the corners of her armor and the redness of her face. She was not only frozen in a cold hell, but also in time.
Not everything was a live specimen.
Hovering above one plinth was an emoty suit of archaic power armor. You couldn't be sure, but perhaps it was the same thunder armor that the emeror had used to conquer Terra of the techo-barbrians that had reigned in the age of darkness. On one dais you find a simple golden square, patterns of an unknown design were etched along its side. Unlike the rest, this one had no containment field.

***

Moving towards the closer exit, Lucius and Bleda see the signs that someone, or something, was headed their way.
Heavy footfalls preceded their arrival.
It was now a choice to move forwards into them, or back towards the exit on the other side.....

Hydrako's eyes took in the armour. It was strange to see such an old relic in the flesh. He ignored the mortal traitor as he passed it by. Were his hands not full, he might have reached out and snapped its neck for its betrayal. As he came to the golden cube, he paused briefly to examine it closer. It was curious that the object was not floating in stasis like the other items. He whispered to Grimnir, What do you judge this to be?

[Lucius and Bleda]

"Someone is before us, Lucius." Bleda looks at the direction of the steps. "I say we give whatever it is that's coming for us a lesson in toying with Astartes."

Lucius clicked back an acknowledgement. He made ready to burn his jump pack and take the newcomer's flank, pitting them squarely between himself and the Destroyer.

"If it is a hostile, I will take its flank."

Hydrako wrote:

Hydrako's eyes took in the armour. It was strange to see such an old relic in the flesh. He ignored the mortal traitor as he passed it by. Were his hands not full, he might have reached out and snapped its neck for its betrayal. As he came to the golden cube, he paused briefly to examine it closer. It was curious that the object was not floating in stasis like the other items. He whispered to Grimnir, What do you judge this to be?

Grimnir walked around the golden cube examining it closely, he even sniffed at it before stepping back "Its either another item on display that doesn't need to be in a stasis field, that's unlikely though as I don't see no others... but perhaps its a control device the xeno use in this chamber." while speaking the wolf keeps a close eye out for enemies, staying alert for trouble.

[Lucius and Bleda]

"Good." Holstering his bolter, Bleda takes out his force sword, throws a look behind them, least someone else is coming up silently, and then look for what misbegotten thing the Necrons will throw at him.

It was enough that Tomasu had agreed to follow - that was concession enough - so Cassiel didn't mind him leading the way through the exit. In fact, he intended to remain where he could keep an eye on the librarian that seemed incapable of finding anything but trouble.

"I feel confident that we can handle whatever comes our way. Every five minutes we'll call out over the Vox to see if any other members of our company are in range. If the deathless care that we are here, they would have noted our entry point and have sensors on us now. Vox chatter would be unlikely to betray our position any more."

As indicated, Cassiel calls out over the Vox every five minutes. Every time he makes a call, he also uses his combat knife to leave a symbol indicating they had been there and an arrow pointing their direction of travel.

Sapiens harmonised their machine-sign, and signed Seraphan to follow quietly. Though needed to stay alert-they would only be immune to automated detection systems. If they spotted enemies from a long ways, they would have a chance to hide.

He attempted to retrace the connections of the warriors. He needed to trace back the control circuit-and through it, he could likely retrace the king.

Hydrako nodded to the golden orb, Bring it. I will recover what I can of the armour. The Ordo will be interested in its secrets. He turned away quietly and went to the ancient armour floating in its stasis plinth. He did a circuit of the base to find a control panel that would deactivate the field and allow him to gather pieces for recovery.

Grimnir reaches out to take the xenos artifact. Perhaps the techmarines back Erioch or that Sapiens could gain some knowledge of the xenos tech from this thing. Though, based on the menagerie its possible that this belonged to another specie entirely, or maybe even something from the dark age of technology.
He grasps the orb in his hand, it felt solid and had a heft to it. The yellowed metal was cold as ice to the touch, even through his scout armor Grimnir could feel the chill through it.
He had held it for only a second when the orb began to dissipate in back smoke that fell from his finger like sand. Within a second the orb was no more and Grimnir and Hydrako both found themselves knee deep in a black cloud, impenetrable to even Hydrako's autosenses (had he bothered to use them).
As this happens, the air becomes electric with barely heard whispers. The surround you, coming at you from all directions. Even the lighting from the displayed artifacts seems to darken.


The voice was raspy with a feminine tint. The words came at you in 1000 different languages, yet the only ones you could hear were the ones that were in High gothic.

In from of you, a column of the black smoke rises on one of the displays. It coalesces into a shape, a form, humanoid, though somewhere below the waist it remains black smoke. This has no effect on the cloud you stand in.
Whips of black smoke coil like lashing tails of some enraged beast. They emanate from the column in front of you, but had the length of several meters worth.

The top of the smoke column starts to take form. It looked as a female in a black body suit, jagged white stipes form from the forehead, through each eye and down the length of the body into black smoke. She wore a overly sized red cape, the collar of which was taller than her head. The coils of smoke formed chains that still writhed around like snakes. Her body still ran into the inky black below the waist. She was the size of a dreadnought, but with a seductive agility that the blocky sarcophagus-warriors could never hope to match.
The eyes, were the same sickly green as everything else in the blighted pyramid.









The sound of stomping feet move from the crevasse towards you. The heavy stomping feet echoe in the massive chamber you stand in.

The fact that you were on a bridge meant that any numbers advantage they had would be mitigated.

Thomp. Thomp. Thomp. Thomp.

The sounds was closer in marching regularity. A faint light begins to reverberate from the walls of the bisected chamber. The green glowed off the glassy walls, and finally the enemy steps onto the bridge.
There was 2 of them. They looked the same as the shield bearers you fought outside.

Instead of a shield and an axe, they each carried a 2 handed polearm. The blades glow green and crackle with etheric energies.
They were also a different shade of metal. Whereas the shield-bearers were a dull metallic, these were polished bronze, with carnelian stone set into the headpieces and the loincloths. Unlike the others, these also had some metallic-skeletal contraption over their heads.


There was no way to hide from them on the narrow bridge; though running the other way was still an option......



There was no pause, no hesitation. Somewhere inside their cogitation capacitors, the decision was made with only the cold efficiency of a soulless automaton:
---Intruder---



Sapiens picks up an audible signal and a bright arcing pulse from somewhere among the rows and rows of deactivated machines.

Serephan had his bolter ready in a firm grip, but he maintained the silent vigil that Sapiens had requested.

You move towards the anomaly through the rows and rows of silent warriors. The silent vigil and neatly organized rows reminded you of the clay adeptus-custodes statues that guard the mock golden throne on Ophelia 7. The shrine world -no- de facto seat of the eccliesiarchy had a replica throne room of the golden throne. Thousands of spectacularly artificed clay custodes guard the immaculate form of the emperor on the golden throne. Religious fanatics swore the site was a conduit for the power of the God-Emperor, as the ecclesiarch had claimed that Ophelia 7 was in fact, the 2nd most important world in the imperium, preceded by Terra, and succeeded by Mars.

This "room" was similar, yet somehow alien. Serephan hated the twisted parody of the imperial palace.

Sapiens knew the truth of the matter. The room itself was probably older that the race of man to begin with.....

Reaching a spot where you can see the source of the anomaly between the vigilant warriors, you spot the source of the disturbance.

A large, beetle-like automaton floated above the warriors. Lightning arced from multiple antennae along the length of its multi-limbed body. The coruscating arcs of power struck scores of the numberless soldiers with each blast. Each blast gave more and more life to the still death of the foot soldiers: Eyes flickered, joints flexed, weapons began the start-up cycle.
It would take multiple bursts to activate them, but it would reanimate up to 20 at a time.


That was not all, scurrying about the legs of the warriors were smaller simulacrums of the reanimator. They seemed to do little to assist, but swarmed about in some sort of display Sapiens could not recognize.

If they wished to stop the wakening of the Nahb dynasty, this thing must be stopped.

It also occurred to Sapiens that there must be more of theses things, possibly in other rooms just like this, doing the same thing.......



Cassiel and Tomasu step out into an impossibly ancient city. Buildings, most of them ruined, lined up along streets and alleyways. They were black glass, but unlike the rest of the cursed structure you had seen, piles of black obsidian lay strewn about as if they were bricks and rubble from the decaying buildings. It appeared so as it was.
There was no sound, no life, all was still.
Somewhere above, a light source cast the city in a shade of desaturated purple, but whatever it was was obscured by purple clouds in the sky.

The city was clearly of xenos origin, with oddly shaped doors that were partially disintegrated from the march of time.

"A war happened here." Tomasu announces. It was clear with the widespread and pervasive destruction to the buildings. No building was above the 3rd story, and most of those were little more than stubborn corners that refused to succumb to age.

Somewhere in the ruins of the city, a metallic cry of pain could be heard, A mournful dirge of a banshee.

If you were mere human, the sound alone would send a chill up your spine.

He understood why the pack leader had ordered the retrieval of the golden cube but he still sighed internally when the shit went down. He had to admit though that he had been tempted anyway. Grimnir back pedals away from the coalescing darkness and then the thing as it materialised, his plan to get whatever it was and him between another exhibit with its stasis field.

Stalker bolt pistol and chainsword in hand he regards the 'beast' with relish "I be Grimnir, Son of Russ.", he says eager for the challenge "Who the feck are you?"

Hydrako kept himself stock still as the cloud swirled around before them. He had just been about to reach out to touch the armour when this apparition appeared. The fact that it didn't attack on site, and had questions for them gave him pause.

He kept his weapons down and stared up at the creature, looking into its glowing eyes. We are the Deathwatch, he added after Grimnir

"Sons, daughters, all is dust before me. You are not any slave race that I am familiar with. Are you a new acquisition? Tell your masters they may only control the star gods for so long. We will have our vengeance."

The voice still had the unearthly quality of being spoken in millions of tongues and dialects, though the only one heard with clarity was gothic.

"We're no slaves and the necrons are not our masters" Grimnir snarls. He had no idea what kind of xeno a star-god was, but as all seemed to be invited to this party with the eldar and tau so why not what stood before him and Hydrako. "We here to kill them, put them back into their slumber. If you have no care for them how can you help us?"
The snarl that came from the Space Wolf echoed exactly what Hydrako had been thinking. Which was surprising given their relatively short stint together in Draco. Having nothing further to add, he remained silent to see what the apparition would say.

"Help...." the voice trails off as if the being was trying to comprehend the word.
"I think I helped someone once.....I recall betrayal. Was it you who betrayed us?"
The thing was clearly confused, but its power was not in doubt.

"Me, no. Astartes, no. Someone other man?" Grimnir shrugs "I'm here to harm the necrons, help us with that or get back in your box."

Its green eyes narrow as the implied threat was given.
"Ill suffer no orders from lesser beings, not even other star gods would dare command me!."
Chains swing around menacingly as it begins its attack.

Hydrako was a step quicker, "Negotiations are over." he warns Grimnir as he lets loose a volley from his storm bolter..
Several rounds hit the thing, or at least they should of. Most of them simply vanished from reality. A single round hits him in the head, but it might as well have been a rubber bullet.

Grimnir IC

The god-like being hunched over the edge or a stasis pod. It looked like a gargoyle surveying a hab block.
"I felt that." It says in its all-language. "You'll need to do better than that if you are to 'put me back in my box'"
As the shadow chains whip around you like angry vipers, the being does something and the room is plunged into darkness.




BLEDA IC

Lucius watched as the soulless advanced, lining up his bolter for a head shot on the closest. "Engage from a distance. Focus fire on the same target until it is destroyed. Marking now."[/quote]

Both of the praetorians in unison are hoisted into the air towards you. They had no visible means of propulsion, but there was an audible hum that started at the same time. They moved through the air much faster than the set of guardians you faced outside. They cover half the distance between you in mere seconds. But their advance was cautious, you had the feeling they could move much faster if they truly wanted...



Sapiens let out a silent breath under his helmet, trying to bleed off some of the extra heat coming from his cranial processors. He focused his mind almost completely on the holistic situation-in the plasma chamber, its steady increase in heat and ionization-in the rifle, the orientation of the barrel in relation to the target-the space inbetween, the probabilities of anything being in the way-and finally the target, its every movement and twitch-all integrated into the grand equation in his head to have the perfect, most impactful shot. He let loose the inferno, a fine needle of blue-white plasma that would have anihilated a terminator.
In this case, it was not enough. It took the damage-some crumpling and scoring was evident-but clearly its priorities where elsewhere. Seeing the scarabs moving towards them, Sapiens hand-signaled to Seraphen to take care of them, while he prepared for another shot.

As soon as Sapiens fires his fussilade, Serephan tosses a krak grenade. It was a long shot, farther than he'd thrown a grenade in a long while. But the explosive device flies true, exploding at the level of a leg joint before it hits the ground.
With their position given away, he no longer felt the need to maintain silence. "For the angel." he says dryly.
The spider like automaton was knocked back a few meters, but it still maintained its position above the ground.

The spyder does not seem to notice, or mind that its leg was practically hanging off. Arms tipped with dendrites and tools simply begin working on the deactivated masses beneath it.
Eyes flicker to life before dying again. Joint shift to break the frozen stranglehold, but it was no use. The warriors stayed motionless.

As this happens, the smaller bots that buzzed around it like a cloud of flies shifts and begins flying your way.....

Ruins of Drite Erd

Cassiel was on high alert, he knew something was off but he couldn't say what. This paranoia was not from the psyker at his back.
"Something is tracking us." Tomasu says, agreeing with Cassiel's sypnosis.
He urns to reply to the witch, when something in a far off ruin gleams, just for a split secont.
Withouta word he pushes Tomasu, but the witch wasn't the target. From the Ruin, a single beam lances out and shatters the obsidian glass behind Cassiel. Even with the time this hunter had to prepare, it was a bad shot.

"Move on that position - circle wide," Cassiel instructs Tomasu as he swings the missile launcher to bear.  Without knowing the target it is good that frag missiles were already loaded.  After firing he shifts to take cover and force the sniper to take aim.
He takes cover behind an obsidian wall. It blocked his view but should provide decent protection.

Tomasu didn't need to be told. He was already on the move. He charges at full speed down the broken boulevard. He zig-zagged to make it harder to hit, but it was unnecessary as the source of the window was enveloped in a cloud of smoke and debris from Cassiel's missile.
For someone who had turned and barely had time to make the shot, it was a dam fine shot.

As he nears the building, from deeper in the ruins, you hear more of the metallic screams you heard before......

Initiative:

Menagerie:
Hydrako - 14
Grimnir - 12
Ethereal Hunter - 7

Bridge of Plundarr:
Bleda - 15
Lucius - 11
praetorian 1 - 10
praetorian 2 - 10

Phalanx Catacombs:
Sapiens - 14
Scarabs - 11 Surprised
Serephan - 7
Spyder - 7 - 60 wounds, 4 fatigue

Drite Erd
Sniper - 10
Cassiel - 8
Tomasu - 4

Hydrako IC

With the thing attacking the pack leader Grimnir had the luxury of briefly looking down his sights before firing another bolt. The creatures head his target. He wondered when Hydrako would grow a pair and attack it properly. In melee.
Grimnir's round hit the thing solidly in its torso. In its wake was a gaping hole, but instead of blood and gristle, there was a ray of etheric light. It looked to its wound, then at Grimnir with narrowed eyes. "Filth.." it hisses in perfect high gothic.

In response it points a single finger at Grimnir and from that finger bursts fourth arcing lightning. It was as close to a psyker power as anything Grimnir had seen before. (reaction)





"Engaging the target at range." With a Bleda switched forth the bolter, lined up the shot and fired." But by whatever reason the shot is a miss as the bolt flies past the airborn Necron.

Lucius noted mentally how fast these were capable of moving. Capitalizing on Bleda's attack, he sent a well aimed bolt straight into the face of one of the soulless. It was blasted with a well placed burst, the first of which blew the left half of its face away in a shower of sparks.

Immediatly, its face begins rebuilding itself as if by magic, though Sapiens could probably come up with a better theory. Done with the testing-the-waters approach, they both fly forwards with the same method they used before. This brought them into close range, able enough for the xenos halberds they carried. Bleda narrowly avoided a heavy handed drop of the halberd. Whatever it was, it had a power field, but it didnt fizzle or crack when active like mankind's blessed weapons, instead it was a low, almost imperceptible hum that set Bleda's teeth on edge.
"Watch out, these weapons have power fields." he warns his fellow astartes, who was holding his own with his chainsword.
Lucius had likewise avoided the blow of the large bladed polearm, but he used the chainweapon to deflect its arc to somewhere he wasn't. He nodded ascent to Bleda.




Sapiens ignores all but the pertinent facts. Data coalesced into streams of probabilities. Probabilities organized into actions, categorically structured for damage vs risk assessment. He brings up the plasma gun and fires 2 shots, in quick succession. Downrange they hit the larger, multilegged automaton. Some armor and internal structure melts away, but not as much as he was hoping for.

The spider-like robot catches fire as innards are overloaded and heat management systems fail as coolant lines rupture. It ceases its hover and falls unceremoniously to the ground. Like the other fallen xenos, this one begins to dissipate in a shower of ascending green pixels. When that stops, all that's left is bits of useless scrap and scorch marks.

The swarms of small, fist sized bug-bots snap into action and begin moving towards you at a speed you were not prepared for. There were almost within striking distance.

Serephan knew that they were still in danger even though the big one was dead and gone. He deftly takes a frag grenade from his belt and tosses it at the rapidly approaching swarm. It explodes, throwing hardy bugs in all directions.
Resolute, he tells Sapiens, "Ill hold off the pests. Get back and keep shooting."





The window from was blasted apart by Cassiel's shot. The dust was evaporating quickly into the rest of the ruins, but from within Cassiel sees a green glow light the debris cloud.

Somewhere in the ruins, the piercing screams continue to wail as they get ever closer.

Cassiel, levels the launcher at the debris cloud but holds his fire. Tomasu was getting to close to the cloud to fire off shots without any direct visual. To waste such precious ammo was folly.
"What do you see?" he barks at the white scar, still distrustful of the Brother who would consult with xenos.

Tomasu makes it to the structure. Instead of entering it and finding a way to the second floor, he jumps and grabs the edge of the ledge. Hoisting himself up, he finds himself in a dissipating cloud of billowing smoke and ash. He holds Pit Viper as the ready, but he couldn't find a single thing....
"Theres nothing here." he snarls. It was possible that the ambush gunner was hiding, or perhaps it had run and gone to ground. With his knowledge of these enemies, Tomasu doubted the thing could outrun any of Draco, and even less himself.





Initiative:

Menagerie:
Hydrako - 14
Grimnir - 12
Ethereal Hunter - 7 - 12 damage

Bridge of Plundarr:
Bleda - 15
Lucius - 11
praetorian 1 - 10 - 20 wounds, 2 fatigue, CC w/Bleda
praetorian 2 - 10 - CC w/Lucius

Phalanx Catacombs:
Sapiens - 14
Scarabs - 11 - 5 mag damage
Serephan - 7
Spyder - 7 - PHAZED

Drite Erd
Sniper - 10
Screamer - 9
Cassiel - 8 - Overwatch
Screamer - 5
Tomasu - 4

The Menagerie

The arc of lightening engulfed the Space Wolf and Hydrako could feel the charge of electricity in his skull, amplified by the strengthened metal of his teeth and jaw. It was an odd feeling that lingered after the attack. Changing tactic, he felt the need to close with the creature to make sure it couldn't get off another salvo so easily. His teeth were bared as he surged forward, the storm bolter forgotten, and the chainaxe taken up in its place. The teeth were churning as he swung at the apparition, hoping they would bite and tear into something. Anything...
The teeth grind into the being's skin. It felt like no flesh or armor Hydrako had ever grinded a chain weapon into before. At first, the smoky flesh tooth the blow like ballistic jelly, then it began to activly push back on the weapon, after a second it expelled the cut completely. There was the usual ragged hole, but instead of meat and bone it only bled the same rays of light that Grimnir's round had done. As with that attack, the wound began to seal itself off.

Grimnir ducked down so the arc of lighting blasted over his head, his hair and beard shocked with static he immediately picked up the smell of burnt hair. That had been close, he could feel the power of it. While the movement might have put off a lesser marksman the wolf was as cool as ice, his bolter had remained trained on the xeno throughout and he wasn’t at all put off with Hydrako getting in the way. At the low point of his duck he snapped off another bolt. As before, the bolt pierces its strange fleshmetal of the smoky apparition. When it does another ray of intense light erupts from its core, before the smoke wreathed flesh closes off the wound.


The Bridge of Plunndar

Bleda's moment to kill them at range was gone, now it was down to the strength of his blade. He attacks after the enemy's last attack, while the overbalanced weapon gave him an advantage. He stabs his force sword into what would be the soft underbelly of a biologic, but this was no biologic. It did not seem stunned, or taken aback by the life ending blow. Then Bleda unleashed his secret weapon, letting his body act as a conduit and transferring warp energy directly into the strange robot's frame. It stumbles back as Bleda retracts his blade from its gut.

Lucius grit his teeth. In one motion he dropped his hesh bolter, allowing it to swing from its combat strap that was clipped to his web gear. He simultaneously pulled and primed a krak grenade. These abominations, though made of metal, would tear in half just as the big tyranids had. It was just a matter of leverage and strength, and the might of a krak grenade.
Faster than a human eye could follow, he slammed his adamantine fist forward, stuffing the anti-armor weapon into a weak spot at the base of the robot's neck.

Before it could respond, the anti armor explosive explodes at its neck joint. The force of the blast throws it to the ground hard. A biologic would have been knocked out by that kind if force alone. As soon as the initial blast clears, Lucius could see that it was moving disjointedly on the floor. Only a quarter of its neck remained. It reignited a memory in Lucius, was it before his transfiguration into astartes?  He could see children pulling the legs out of quadruped insects and laughing as they watched the dying insect struggle.

The one on its feet doesnt react to the seeming loss of its comrade, preferring instead to deal another heavy blow towards Bleda. The destroyers librarian almost took a heavy chop to the base of his neck, but for the intervening force sword. He blocks the heavy blow, and with his strenth heavy the halberd off of his blade.

Lucius' target continues to move like a baby as severed synaptic lines try to repair and regain some form of control. To Lucius, it didnt look like it was working. Now he had to choose between finishing this thing off or assisting his Brother....



Phalanx Catacombs

With the spyder down, the awakening army would be slowed down. But the kill had been too slow, the warning would be going out in moments. This was time for a desperate move. He quick-drew his omni-tool and charged the scarabs. Perhaps if he could penetrate their informatic defenses, he would have a chance to stop the alert from ringing out. His attacks stun several, but they recovered almost as quickly, still, he would be able to take the one or 2 that were slower to react.

They attack back with a ravenous fury, reminiscent of tyranid ripper swarms. The attacks would not penetrate the ceramite armor yet, but with time, and patience, it was possible they would eat through the blessed plate.

"What are you doing?" Serephan shouts with disbelief. He thought Sapiens would pull out some archeotech emp grenade or something similar. Instead, he looked like he was tazing them instead. It did not look like it was doing any good. Serephan was more concerned with Sapiens lack of progress than his own, which in terms of actual killing was the same.

Chains made from smoke lash at Hydrako as he charged in. Wriithing tendrils miss as Hydrako had already bypassed the attack and launched his own attack.

Ruins of Drite Erd

Cassiel felt the hairs on the back on his neck tingle. He turns to find an enemy coalescing not 20 meters behind him in another broken down hovel. It had teleported while he was distracted from the other direction. Without any sort of anticipation or fear, it raises its weapon and fires an orange bolt of synaptic disintegration. It strikes Cassiel in the armored check of his helm. Cassiel's tenacity in maintaining his rebellious armor meant it was in top shape. The beam does not break his ceramite skin. A curious think though was that it was causeing the machine spirits some discomfort as the HUD flickered erratically.

AS this happened, a screamer burst onto the xenos street near Tomasu. Seeing him, and not caring for Cassiel, it rushes the stormseer. t tries the same trick he had just done, climbing up the side of the building. It scrabbles at him, but its hands were not made for such things as the fingers were warped into long talons the length of an astartes combat knife. Unlike the rest of these automatons, this one cried, as if in agony. Its wordless wails pierced as Tomasu's ears and he had not the benefit of his helmet to shut the feed off.

Cassiel tries to leap to the side of the oncoming bolt but finds the extra armor on his legs lets him turn to face it, but not move out of the way.
Knowing that the target is close, Cassiel clicks the fire selector to switch to a krak missile. From this range he couldn't miss, and the explosion couldn't reach him. Just as he presses the fire ruin, the armor follows the previous command, causing him to suddenly leap to the side - and sending his shot off the mark.
He hits the wall the Sniper was standing on. This wall was sterner stuff that the one he hit earlier, only producing half the debris and still standing. It was not to say the krak missile was useless, only that it failed to collapse the structure.

Another of the hand bladed lunatics came from a side street, intent on charging Tomasu. Unlike the prior one, it was able to scramble up the side and lunge straight for the stormseer. A native of Chogoris, his was well versed in hit-run-counter tactics before he was even a novice in ways of the scars. He moves to the side and turned as the insane xenos lunged past, then he brought up pit viper into the back of its arm near the shoulder. It was screaming already, so Tomasu could not tell if this variant felt pain or not.

He followed up his counter by a lunging thrust. He had aimed at the torso, but the turning thing knocked off his aim. Still he pierced it completely through a hip actuator. The thing simply screamed, a never ceasing scream which was beginning to grate on his ears without the protection of the helmet he did not want to wear. Instead of retreating to make another attack, it started moving towards the Stormseer, grating its skewered leg on Pit Viper to bring itslef closer to strike with its 1/2 meter long finger blades. Tomasu was about to channel the storm into the relic when the robot suddenly quieted and dropped to the ground as its hip joint disintegrated completely under the strain. It lay there in a heap and Tomasu watched as the lights in its eyes dimmed to nothing. He filled a mental note that this one was not teleported to repair facilities as he had expected.



Initiative:

Menagerie:
Hydrako - 14 CC/Hunter
Grimnir - 12
Ethereal Hunter - 7 - 23 damage

Bridge of Plundarr:
Bleda - 15
Lucius - 11
praetorian 1 - 10 - 29 wounds, 2 fatigue, CC w/Bleda
praetorian 2 - 10 - CC w/Lucius - 23 wounds, 2 fatigue, prone

Phalanx Catacombs:
Sapiens - 14
Scarabs - 11 - 5 mag damage
Serephan - 7
Spyder - 7 - PHAZED

Drite Erd
Sniper - 10
Screamer - 9
Cassiel - 8 - Overwatch
Screamer - 5 - DEAD?
Tomasu - 4

The Menagerie

As a score of bolts bloomed inside the apparition, expertly placed around the swirling strikes of Hydrako's chain axe, he considered mentioning target acquisition practice for the rest of the squad on their return to the Watch station. He then pushed the thought from his mind as he drew the powersword in his offhand and went to work. The blue lightening of the powerfield lit up the area as Hydrako's strikes landed again and again. At times, they rained separately while at others the two weapons appeared as some bowstaff amalgamation of churning, roaring teeth and arcing electricity.

He was concerned that the thing seemed to be healing, but he also hoped the light or energy or whatever it was that escaped before its flesh closed up meant it was bleeding out. For now Grimnir knew where his worth was, picking the thing apart a bolt at a time. He aimed down the sights of his stalker pattern bolter, sighting the things forehead. Smiling grimly he fired again…

It was about to attack again when something grabs its attention.....It looks around, Hydrako and Grimnir forgotten. It appears to sniff the stale air and not like the scent it was picking up.
"The jailor returns....." he says, oblivious to the light spewing from multiple holes and gashes in its torso, holes that seal themselves up as quickly as they happen.
It turns back to you, "I will spare you for now. Do not forget that I am the hunter and I will not let your insolence stand" it says in its disconcerting many-voices. The form shifts to a smoky cloud that rushes away in a wave towards one end of the room. The smoke-wave shatters multiple displays and stasis pods in a field of explosions and damage. The smoke dissipates before it hits the wall that did not contain any visible exits......

The Bridge of Plunndar

Bleda Kept up his pace. He sticks the sword into the robot's chest so that it sticks out of its back. The damage was minimal, but a foot in the door was all that Bleda needed. He channels his warp power through the sword, his arm and the blade both vibrated with intensity. Bleda's power was not like his cousin. Tomasu had raw power, a ferocious force he called the storm, but Bleda's power was more precise and more controlled. With the fury of a lance battery, the praetorian shatters as the sword itself transmutes into a weapon of pure energy. The sudden surge was over as quick as it had started and all that was left of the black pyramid guardian was bits of slag and the weapons which had been thrown into the abyss on the side of the bridge.

Lucius was about to shoulder charge the standing xenos with his storm shield when Bleda finished it. Without missing a beat, he Hesh Bolter was back in his hands spitting death into the prone xenos' face.
The automaton's body was riddles with small explosions as mass reactive tear it apart beyond its ability to heal itself. The force of the impacts force it off the narrow bridge. Before it falls into the consuming darkness i disappears in the strange green teleportation that you had seen previously.


Phalanx Catacombs

The attempt having failed, sapiens walked back out of the swarm and launched a frag grenade directly into its heart. Hopefully dispersing them would have some kind of impact. They try to attack him as he withdraws a few meters but they fail to penetrate the armor.
The grenade blows a chunk from the formation, sending the durable little ankle biters everywhere in pieces and parts.

The horde moves forward again, overtaking Serephan and attacking Sapiens again. Serephan was covered from head to toe in the small bug-bots. They nibbled with a ravenous hunger. Serephan's HUD indicated that the armor was losing integrity as he began to feel a sensation similar to pain in the back of his knee where the armor was weaker. Sapiens' armor was well maintained and up-armored compared to the sanguinary priest. He was not at danger currently.

In retaliation, Serephan swings the chainsword in wide arcs that knock battered drones out in sweeping waves. The action along flung many of them off his body. In the back of his mind, he was glad for the lack of a blood scent. Even the bareest hint of blood now and his current rage might set off a blood fog that would consume him. He did not wish to expose that to anyone not of the blood angels again.


Ruins of Drite Erd

The sniper takes a aim that lasted a millisecond and fires again. The beam once again struck Cassiel in the face, this time in the eye even. As before, the attack had no penetration, which the lens flickered with distortion from the synaptic disintegrator,  he was completely intact.

Having just missed a shot that should have been impossible to miss, Cassiel decided to make this personal. He charges forward, closing the distance in a second, then grabs the sniper in a horse-collar grip. The single-eyed sniper tries to avoid the tackle, but it was slow and clumsy. Either its joints needed to be oiled or it was simply unused to being bum rushed. It fails to escape Cassiel's wrath as he pint it tio the ground in a headlock.

The screaming moves into the building to attack Tomasu from the stairway. He was prepared however and block off its attacks. It cannot pierce his defenses confined in its stairway.

With the screaming maniac confined to a stiarway, it was easy for Tomasu to jab it in the upper torso. Pit viper tears it apart severly, Tomasu had planned to use the storm to blast it apart, but the ear piercing screams was throwing off his concentration, possibly even his connection to the storm.
"Be silent!"
He commands in his guttural, Chogorian tongue.
It does not listen.

Initiative:

Menagerie:
Hydrako - 14 CC/Hunter
Grimnir - 12
Ethereal Hunter - 7 - LEFT TO HUNT

Bridge of Plundarr:
Bleda - 15
Lucius - 11
praetorian 1 - 10 - 'SPLODED
praetorian 2 - 10 - HAD A FALL

Phalanx Catacombs:
Sapiens - 14
Scarabs - 11 - 5 mag damage
Serephan - 7
Spyder - 7 - PHAZED

Drite Erd
Sniper - 10
Screamer - 9 -
Cassiel - 8 - Overwatch
Screamer - 5 - DEAD?
Tomasu - 4

Cassiel holds the foe in place. With its demonstrated ability to teleport he wants to make sure that it doesn't go anywhere without taking him with it. As it struggles to break free of his vice-like grip he signals to Tomasu. "Finish him."
Tomasu heard him, but he had his own problems, not that they would be for much longer.
He retracts pit viper from the screaming metal skeleton and in a swipt, deft motion, slices into its neck, severing its head completely from the body. The standing body slackens, before slumping on the wall and collapsing to the floor.
He runs back long the street to find Cassiel holding a single eyed xenos with a large rifle.
He picks the center mass and sticks the xenos to the groun, allowing for Cassiel to move out of the way. Only a second had passed before it disappeared in the usual manner.

"Those two back there did not dissapear at death like the rest. Curious."

***

Between Serephan's fury and Sapiens calculated attacks, the scarabs had no chance. Finally, they were either scattered to the winds or otherwise seemingly vanished into the ether.

From the corner of his eye, Sapiens spots 2 of the ones he had stunned earlier. They were dead, but they were also completely intact......

Serephan inspects the rows upon rows of silent warriors.
"They did not intervene. Are these real or simulacrums? Ive heard stories about races and debased cultures that protect their dead kings with hundreds of statue guardians?"

***

Bleda nods with approval as Lucius dispatches the last guardian and its fall from the perch.
"This is a strange bridge. There are no rails, the expanse it covers is great, over a chasm that knows neither top or bottom."
He was right. Any bridge such as that should have a safety railing of some kind. Perhaps these xenos needed no such protection?

***

Grimnir and Hydrako could only watch as hundreds of dirplay plinths were shattered or destroyed beyond repair. Where once there was a cadian reloading his weapon was now tatters of dessicated flesh and bone next to rusted equipment.

Sparks and overloaded stands send a shower of cordite into the walkways. The lights had come back to full illumination, but even then many of them were burnt out and throwing sparks.

Lucius kept his weapon up, looking for additional contacts. Finding none, he lets it hang on its webbing.

"This race, these soulless clearly have no understanding of safety standards," he says back as more of a joke than anything else.

"It's good to know that they break just like anything else." He gave the Destroyer a nod. The two warriors had excelled against a dangerous enemy, each using their own Chapter's teachings and skills. Even still, they had fought in tandem as a unit.

This was why Draco was so successful.

He pointed toward their original goal. It was time to keep moving.

Sylphilis wrote:

Between Serephan's fury and Sapiens calculated attacks, the scarabs had no chance. Finally, they were either scattered to the winds or otherwise seemingly vanished into the ether.

From the corner of his eye, Sapiens spots 2 of the ones he had stunned earlier. They were dead, but they were also completely intact......

Serephan inspects the rows upon rows of silent warriors.
"They did not intervene. Are these real or simulacrums? Ive heard stories about races and debased cultures that protect their dead kings with hundreds of statue guardians?"

Sapiens signed the hand-sign for "Silence" & "Wait". He walked up to the two disables scarabs, placed them in one of the metalized farraday-bags he had brought, and returned to seraphen, offering up a data-cable for communication.

+I will insist on silence. These are like devices that have not been "booted up" to service. The spider is tasked with re-activating units. However, it is a "slave" to a "master" device that holds the authority to start the process. There are likely many more such spiders in other halls like this one. We must find this "master" and isolate its authority subroutines-destroying it will merely transfer them to a subsidiary "master" device. However, if we found the "grandmaster" device-the unit that holoprojected earlier-we could potentially shut this entire facility down. That is my primary mission objective. If that objective cannot be accomplished, it is to accumulate maximal data on these xenos and evacuate. Do you have any questions? If not, I must investigate the remains of the spider, and try to track down its "master".+

Hydrako blinked in confusion as their prey suddenly turned to smoke and disappeared. It was a pity, it could have been another trophy. He stalked back to recover his storm bolter and see how the Wolf held up. As he scooped up the weapon, he noticed the collapsed form of the ancient armour, no longer suspended by the stasis field. Speaking of trophies...he inspected the suit, while strapping the helmet to his belt. It gave him the appearance of a traitor marine to have multiple helmets hanging from his harness, but he didn't care. Some thought his kind were outcasts and traitors anyway. His gauntlets had belonged to Carnelian, and so could not be changed out, but the extra pair found their way into his webbing also. Every other piece was too big to carry or would take too long to don, so would have to remain here. You'll need to teach the rest of the squad to shoot when we return to the Watch Fortress. Ready to continue? he asked matter-of-factly when he stood back up.

Serephan nods, not completely understanding the techmarine, but acquiescing to his judgment on such matters.
+How do we go about finding this 'master' activation unit? This room itself is unimaginably huge, but I dont hear anything+

***

Bleda and Lucius cross the bridge to find themselves in a chamber whose purpose was lost to them. They were on the third of 5 catwalks stacked vertically along a wall. The wall opposite them was mirrored. For at least 300 meters the walls were crossed with microcircutry hooking up into alcoves. Each alcove was slightly taller than a man. Obviously built to hold some of the xenos automata in some kind of repair subroutine or stasis. Doing some quick arithmetic, Bledagave an estimate. "If the upper and lower walks are as this, then there are some 3 to 5 hundred alcoves in this area. And they appear to all be empty......"


***

More screams pierced the silence. Tomasu whirled to the crossroads, pit viper at the ready. The echoes died down, but more screaming soon joined them.
"We should be out of this place. Its obviously a forgotten museum piece to them. Nothing here we could use to stop them." He wouldn't voice it to Cassiel, or any of the other members of Draco, but the fact that those two were not teleported back to thier repair citadel or whatever it was they did gave Tomasu a growing concern. It was something he would have to discuss back on Erioch, if he ever made it back.


***

Hydrako and Grimnir both heard it. Something was in there. Motion tracking was difficult with all the failing stasis pods. Hissing air from radically changing air pressures made the sounds hard to trace, but there was the distinct, rhythmic sounds of breathing somewhere in the chamber.

Hydrako suddenly pivoted in place and drew the storm bolter at the sudden noise. He tracked the shadows with the twin muzzles, searching for the source of the breathing, but was unable to pinpoint it. We are not alone. He hissed to the Wolfscout though Grimnr no doubt already knew where the intruder was. He remained silent, and his body began to tense like a spring again in anticipation of another attack.

Hydrako wrote:

You'll need to teach the rest of the squad to shoot when we return to the Watch Fortress. Ready to continue? he asked matter-of-factly when he stood back up.

Grimnir grunted in reply to Hydrako, he took it as a compliment and not that he would have to actually do fire drills with the kill team on their return to the watch fortress. Besides he’d surely be returned to his lone duties where we he worked best. “You fight alright with that axe of yers, an unusual weapon of choice.” While it may not have sounded like it ‘alright’ was actually high praise from the Space Wolf.

At the noise Grimnir took a brief moment to centre himself, filter out the other noises and smells of the place. He eventually got a direction. Using battle cant he directed Hydrako to move towards it up the centre while he would flank. He didn’t consider who was actually in charge here, it didn’t matter to him. It seemed like the best course of action. Once they were ready Grimnir moves quietly off, pistol and chainword at the ready.

Although rhythmic, the breathing was quickened and heavy, as a pair (or trio) of enhanced lungs were taking their first breaths after aeons of stasis. They belonged to a Space Marine, and a very old one at that--their quickened pace was not down to sheer panic, although the Marine in question was disoriented, as he had know memory of coming to this crass menagerie. As his breathing began to slow, the Marine fell to a series of drills, as if immediately preparing for combat; his bolter came up from his side, his ammo count was checked, and the systems within his power armour were given time to recalibrate after an unknown period of stasis. All of this, of course, happened in mere seconds, such was the speed and skill of a member of the Adeptus Astartes.

Instinctively sensing that he was in uncharted--possibly hostile--territory, the warrior, clad in pure white armour, with a wolf on his shoulder, levelled his bolter at eye height, and began scanning the room for threats. On the off chance that others in his squad had been taken captive in the same manner as him, he tried reaching one of them over the vox.

"Sergeant Mexlin, do you copy?"

Confirmed, he whispered as he stalked forward. His storm bolter continued to sweep the shadows as he stalked forward. He didn't hide his footsteps in order to keep attention on him as Grimnir melted away.

Sergeant Mexlin, do you copy? suddenly broke the silence and Hydrako froze. The voice spoke in Gothic, and he immediately thought of the traitors that were following them. It was odd for them to give up the element of surprise so easily, however. This is Hydrako. Squad leader of Killteam Draco, show yourself. Slowly...he hissed at the voice

The Marine clocked Hydrako's voice and reacted instantly, levelling his bolter in the direction of his voice. The Marine's response was filled with resolve, and just the barest hint of aggression, as if a part of him were itching for a fight underneath his cool exterior. The heavy footsteps of Hydrako's approach seemed to do little to shake that cool.

"I follow Astartes and Astartes alone. From which of the Primarchs do you claim lineage?

Hydrako's muscles coiled a little tighter at the question, and mention of Astartes. This was either a traitor or another lone operator like Grimnir. That is a secret for none to know beyond the Predator Fleets. You address Astartes of the Deathwatch, alien and heretic hunters of the Emperor. Lower your weapon. He kept his own raised and pointed at the voice in case this was a ruse by the traitors.

By the time the two had said their initial words the light footed wolf was in position behind one of the exhibition plinths his cameleoline cloak merging with him with its shadow, his stalker pistol trained at a weak point in the warriors armour. It took him an additional half second to process it as the Astartes before him wore an ancient mark of power armour, he was no armourer so he wasn't sure of the specifics, but a join between vambrace and the elbow guard would work as kill shots to the neck and visor were obscured. He had approached on the warriors left so the chapter symbol on the right pauldron wasn't visible. Had the xeno metal skeletons captured some cousin and put him on display? Was it the traitor marines playing tricks?

Grimnir waited patiently...

"Alien hunters? Have xenos given the Great Crusade pause?" The Marine lowered his weapon by an inch--enough that he would still be able to react fast to any turn in the situation, but he had lost whatever advantage he had over Hydrako, if he even had one to begin with. Although it could not be seen under his helmet, he raised a single eyebrow, questioning Hydrako's words further.

"How far are we into the Great Crusade that the Emperor commissions the Legiones Astartes to form dedicated xenos kill squads?"

[With Bleda]

Lucius took in the scene and nodded back a confirmation at Bleda. They had no choice here but to keep moving unless a target of opportunity presented itself. He took a moment to take in the scene in order to relay any and all of the details to the others upon Draco's reunion.

Satisfied, he tried reaching anyone in the Kill Team once more. Perhaps there was a chance...

In Draco Cant he started, "Kill Team Draco, this is Lucius; Kill Team Draco, this is Lucius. Does anyone copy? Over."

Hydrako narrowed his eyes at the stranger. Speaking of the Great Crusade was odd in this millennium. Another ruse?Identify yourself. He ignored the questions for now.

All Lucius received was a feedback loop, as if the very walls in here bounced the vox back at him.

"It must be the very walls. I could try to contact someone using my abilities, but my telepathy has a max effective range of roughly 300 meters. This room itself is that big at least." Bleda tells Lucius.

"My name is Iovanus Dror, Veteran Tactical Marine of the 3rd Company of the Luna Wolves Legion. I was assigned the task of exterminating an Eldar presence when...when I found myself here." Iovanus' weapon was still trained in Hydrako's direction, but given Hydrako's mannerisms, Iovanus was slightly more willing to comply now.

"What is the status of the Legion? How fares the Imperium of Man?"

[With Bleda]

Lucius shook his head. If the telepathy couldn't get out of the room, there was no point in expending the energy. The situation wasn't that desperate. He pointed out the tactical advantages they had first:

"If we have contact, I can jump the gap easily enough and catch them in a crossfire. Avoiding anymore of their power lances is likely in our best interest," he said with a smirk.

He continued as they advanced, "This room is ancient. Dust on the ground level is at least one meter thick. The machines here are in ill repair. What do you make of this? A forgotten storage facility? I would say a boneyard, but no one has been moving around in here in centuries, if not longer. This doesn't seem like a facility of the Soulless to me. Could you psychically scan this area for any signs of life?"

Trusting his instinct, the Novamarine halted for a moment to collect dust samples. He made sure to collect an assortment - small - easily carried in his combat webbing. He had a mind to go inspect some of the damaged machines, but wanted to see what Bleda had to say first.

Grimnir was floored when the astartes before them said he was a Luna Wolf, it was possible he supposed. Stasis fields keeping all manner of creatures on display for who knows how long. The mark of the armour added weight to the claim. However, it also screamed out Sons of Horus and the Black Legion. Grimnir didn't really know much more than that, but it was enough to realise the implications. It could also still be some trick.

The wolf maintained his aim, hidden in the shadows. If this was a real Luna Wolf his whole world was about to come crashing down. His legion had turned traitor, Horus had turned traitor and had been slain by The Emperor.

You appear to be lost in space and time, Luna Wolf. You are in the 41st millennium, ten thousand years since the heresy of Horus. He led a rebellion against the Emperor which saw he and eight of his brothers storm Terra, ultimately ending with his death. He let that information sink in. It wasn't going to be easy for this marine to come to terms with that, if he was what he said he was. Hydrako waited for the reaction, and he would react accordingly...

Bleda approached an alcove and grasped the edge of it with his hand. He closed his eyes and let the warp flow into him through the object.
It was...strange. The warp was weak here, he had felt the dampening before, but now that he was not in combat and had the attention to focus, it was obvious. Still, he was able to gain a sense of dread from the alcove. Alien emotions assaulted him. He felt the constant weight of death, birth was nothing more than condemnation. There was an intense fear of cosmic radiation, the fear was founded inan unfair genetic advantage. The emotions were strong in number, but weak in themselves, the memories could only be heard as a gestalt form, a coherence born out of millions of cries.
In this death was hope, a better future.....before.....

Bleda retracted his hand from the alcove in a sudden panic. His chrono told him he had taken 3 minutes time to connect to the object.

"They severed souls from bodies here. For what purpose I cant be sure but I sensed to escape a worse fate. "

Heresy? Horus turning on the Emperor? 10 millennia in isolation here? Iovanus did not think any of this possible, not from what he remembered about his sire. He trained his bolter in Iovanus once more, incensed that another Astartes would dare make such a bold claim. "No. You lie, Hydrako. Horus would never have turned, he was the best of the Emperor's sons! The Emperor would never have let him rebel! He did not consort with Chaos like those heretics of the Interex. Where is my legion?"

Hydrako remained silent for a few longs seconds after the newcomer finished speaking, letting his mind race and try to pick up the pieces of his past. When he spoke next, his voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere, drifting out of the shadows like the fingers of a cold mist, or assaulting directly through the pools of light above the numerous plinths. It was a tone of reason laced with malice. Look around you Traitor's son. You are a refugee from a lost time and have been living in this...trophy room. The universe you claim to be from is dead. The legion you are from is dead. Horus is dead. Your legion's survivors are now known as the Black Legion and are led by Abaddon The Despoiler. This universe you find yourself in is one of all out war for the survival of the Imperium, and we are the bastion that keeps the darkness at bay. He paused again and walked towards Iovanus until they were standing opposite each other, bolter barrels almost touching as they aimed at eachother. Lies are pointless. Believe or don't believe, I care not. To me, you are another lost Marine that I can take into my command or leave behind, you decide. His void black eyes appraised Iovanus again, sizing him as a predator would size potential prey. If you're a traitor, like the rest of the Sons of Horus now are, I will deal with you easily enough. But, if you are loyal to the Emperor, prove it. Follow my orders and come with us to finish our mission. There will be more answers for you later, and perhaps redemption...

Sapiens began his work with the omni-tool, dissecting the spider's central processing units. He needed to trace down the com-relays, and if it all possible to spoof them to convince the system that the spider was still running. This would give him the time to track down the Phaeron and disable it. If at all possible, to preserve the skull-it would be an invaluable ressource to understand the enemy.

For now, he focused on concealing the damage in the system, then to track down the data.

Sapiens finds that the interior micro-circuitry was built in monomolecular-thin wafers. It was high xenos tech that not even mankind's greatest achievements could match. Only the inner workings of the ommnisiah and the ommnisiah alone could comprehend this sort of tech-sorcery.

It did not keep Sapiens from trying. For 30 minutes you test the waters. You find that the scarab was guided by set protocols, and only those with higher authority could countermand those protocols. Something you could barely wrap you vast intellect around was that all communication was done via something that was neither reality, nor unreality, nor the warp. You could gain access from the beetle, but would need more time to figure out how to track higher life forms.

Lucius stared at Bleda, not quite understanding but expecting a full debrief when they got out of this maze. He nodded and moved to the nearest mechanical body. [If this means jump packing across the way to inspect one, he will do so after giving Bleda a heads up to prep for any potential response]

He understood the importance of intelligence gathering, especially against a relatively little-known xenos threat. If there was a component of the ancient machines he could take as a sample - one that didn't simply vanish into thin air when destroyed - it could prove valuable.

****
OOC: I am good with moving on after this. I think we have gotten a lot out of this room, unless Bleda wants to do something else.

For what felt like hours, Iovanus stared intently at Hydrako, considering the situation he was in very carefully. Seeing Hydrako for what he was, he was right; Iovanus would not stand a chance in a straight fight...or any fight for that matter, and even if he won, he would have the rest of Hydrako's team to deal with. He did not like the news, and he did not even have to accept it (at least until it was proven by a higher authority than an Astartes), but following Hydrako in his endeavours, at least for now, was the smart thing to do. Slowly, Iovanus lowered his bolter, and brought himself out of his shooting stance--however he kept the tension in his muscles, uncomfortable as he was with the situation.

"Very well. I will work with you to complete your mission. I will request verification of your facts once your mission is concluded. And if you are telling the truth...then I will be seeking vengeance."

Hydrako nodded once, Good choice. Grimnir, keep eyes on him, he said into his gorget vox as he mag locked the storm bolter in its place. He began to remove his right gauntlet and vambrace, but kept his unblinking gaze upon Iovanus as he worked. When his hand and forearm were exposed he brought his wrist to his mouth and with a flash of steel he tore open the flesh in a ragged wound to allow the blood to flow. He spoke the next words in that same hushed whisper that came from behind Iovanus, as well as above and below, and dropped his hand to his side to allow the running vitae to cover his palm and fingers, Iovanus Dror, of the Luna Wolves, you are now mine. My mission is your mission, and the mission is all. Until we have achieved it, your life is mine, and that of Draco. You will become part of a weapon that plunges into the heart of our enemies as we sow discord into their ranks and feed on their fear. You will do your part to achieve victory or die in service to the Emperor, whichever comes first. I bathe you in The Crimson to mark your submission. As he speaks the last part he splashes Iovanus' face and breastplate with his blood, marking him part Draco, yet different from the rest of the squad. When your allegiance is beyond doubt, and if you become part of Draco on our return to the Watch Fortress, then you will bear the Red Hand as the rest of us do. Then, just as before, he wipes his bloody hand over his face and scalp coating it in another layer of blood to end the ritual.

As he starts to re-don his armour, Hydrako looks over into the shadows where the Space Wolf is hidden, Move us out Grimnir. Let's see where Lucius is hiding.

As Sapiens worked, Serephan patrolled the immediate area, it was dead quiet except for a constant low hum of energy that perpetually reverberated through the black pyramid.
He heard a noise, behind him and Serephan, he turned whip-quick to find Muse perched on the shoulder of a silent sentry.
He/she waves in greeting before silently flipping off the robot, all without disturbing its vigil.

"Im glad I've found someone. This place is quite large and I was getting a bit lonely."
The sarcastic quip did not change Serephan's mood, in fact it made it worse. Forgetting Saiens recommendation he responds, "How can you be so chipper in enemy territory, and among those that wish you dead as well?"
Muse smiles behind the domino mask, "I'm a solitaire, mon keigh, Im always among enemies."
She/he moves to Sapiens and peers over his shoulder, interrupting his work. "And just what are you so intent on? ooooh, reverse engineering. I dont think you have that kind of time on your hands. M'ra is due to waken soon by the phase of this place. Im thinking a few hours at most."

***

Lucius hears a sudden banging, and the sound of screeching metal giving way under a pounding. The hall echoed with the intent. He raises his bolter but Bleda motions him to lower the weapon.
"Its the stormseer." he announces dryly.
Down the hall, a strange door hidden in an alcove ruptures outwards and Tomasu and Cassiel emerge onto the walkway. They were obviously wary of being followed.
"I told you to close the door behind us!" Cassiel says.
"I didnt have that kind of time." Tomasu says, holding pit viper in a ready stance facing the exit.

***

As they began to move out, they heard the withered crone hiss of U'riss from a distance.
"Mon Keigh! The chaos worshippers have entered the pyramid as well as the technomancer. He's reactivating the defenses as-"
The hovering xenos lowers to inspect a broken plinth. On it was an aeldari with a ragged hole in his chest from some wound delivered centuries ago. Her stretched skin face seemed to liven up as she caught the dying embers of the distant kin.
After a second she breathes a sigh reminiscent of post coitus satisfaction before turning back to the astartes. "Another stray?"

Lucius abandoned the idea of collecting a hard physical sample for the moment. Priorities had changed. If they had a moment before they left this room, he would ensure all four members of Draco had intelligence to bring back for study at the Watch Station.

"Let's go save their asses, Destroyer."

As he moved to support and cover, he called out. With his helmet off he could be heard, but he clicked open the squad vox as well.

"Kill Team Draco, inbound for support!"

+++

OOC: Close distance to our long-lost brothers and provide overwatch on the exits to this building while they deal with whatever is coming at them. Should the threat to them be more significant, Lucius will shift focus.