Chương 24: Chapter Twenty-Three - Hammer

It was a little strange, walking along with only one servitor following behind her. K84-321 clunked along, keeping pace if only barely. KYS was... somewhere. Sometimes Alexis would turn around to look for the medicae servitor and find her a place behind, almost like she was trying to live in Alexis' shadow. Other times she'd turn around and not see her at all. If it wasn't for the mental link she now shared through her MIU, she might have been concerned.

"I kinda miss 054-648," she said.

"And I guess CS-3-2/11 as well, though we haven't known her for nearly as long, right?" Not that she'd known her other friends for very long. They were semi-regular visitors in her part of the ship's Servitorium, but that was not the most frequent of things. She was happily distracted, thinking of ways to spend her points and what upgrades she'd be getting next when the clunking of feet up ahead alerted her to someone approaching.

So far, she'd crossed three junctions without meeting anyone or seeing a single corpse. If the genestealers were here, they had passed without leaving any signs. Alexis was rather taken aback when a familiar person rounded the corner, running at a rather slow jog.

"Alma-9?" she called out. The transmechanic came to a stop, chest heaving. What skin she had exposed on her face was covered in a fine sheen of perspiration.

"Alexis Lambda-3? Were you not..."

"I was," Alexis said into the silence.

"We stopped a large group of them back there, and then a second smaller one. They retreated, but I thought they might be going around to the communications array through another path, so I decided to return."

"High Transmechanic Dracovos wouldn't accept that," she said.

"I left two of my servitors to guard the passage," Alexis said.

"They're still fine."

"You'd know that?" Alma-9 asked with some hostility.

"Yes? We're connected by MIU." The transmechanic blinked her one organic eye.

"I hadn't realized you had such a thing. Expected. You are attempting to be a Servitor Underseer." She shook her head.

"I must move."

"To where?" Alexis asked.

"Don't you work in the communications array?"

"Affirmative. High Transmechanic Dracovos sent me to acquire reinforcements."

"It's a communications array. Can't he... call for them?" Alexis asked. The woman shook her head.

"Negative. There is a communications blackout. Orders from the bridge. Those orders were negated, then reinstated. Conflicting orders." That last part was delivered with some disgust.

"So you're going to... what, look for reinforcements yourself?"

"I hold a rank capable of being taken seriously. The ship enforcers will obey."

"They're a bit busy," Alexis said. She took a deep breath.

"Was the array... attacked?" Alma-9 nodded.

"Yes. High Transmechanic Dracovos created a break in the enemy's offensive and I was sent out to retrieve reinforcements."

"Well, I count, right!" Alexis said with a grin.

"Me and my two friends! I can call the other two back."

"Two?" Alma-9 asked. Just then, KYS dropped down from the ceiling, landing with a faint thump only a couple of steps next to Alma-9. The tech priestess jumped about a metre off the ground, hands clamping onto her chest as she let out a little squeak. Alexis giggled, then clamped down on that urge real hard.

"Y-yeah, my two friends. K84-321 and KYS there. I'm a little... under-armed in terms of ranged abilities, but we're pretty tough." She had taken one of the lasrifles and a few spare power packs, but other than that and her foam sprayer, they were out of ranged options.

"Understood," Alma-9 said. She looked down the corridor, then back.

"I am... worried. I feel like I have abandoned my post."

"You were ordered to," Alexis said.

"Look, go on, get reinforcements. Then come back quick, alright? I'll go and keep the bad guys busy." Alma-9 hesitated, then bowed.

"Thank you, Alexis Lambda-3. If you are truthful, then I will reimburse you." Alexis waved it off.

"No problem," she said. The tech priestess bobbed her head, then took off jogging again. She wasn't particularly fast, but that was fine. She'd find reinforcements eventually. Alexis continued on her way, though with a bit more alacrity. It wasn't too long before she was hearing a big commotion further ahead and around another bend. That was where the entrance to the Communications Array was. Slowing down, she moved up to the corner and poked her head around.

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators! The massive doors that she had knocked at earlier were blasted open, sides bent out of shape and smoking faintly. Clogging that entire entrance were some three dozen genestealers, some of them shoving their way ahead while others were camped around the entrance with pistols and lasrifles, spraying indiscriminate fire into the room. Another squad came rushing around the far corner and joined the fray without hesitation.

Alexis chewed on her bottom lip, then flinched as red beams of lasfire shot out of the room. There was still fighting going on within, but-- She heard someone screaming, a voice that was all too familiar. The strange psyker! He was shouting obscenities that she couldn't make out, but his voice was distinct. Then a booming voice replied, so loud that it might as well have been screamed into her face.

"Animals! Beasts! Do you dare to sully the glorious workings of the Omnissiah with your presence?" An explosion rocked the floor, and sent a few genestealers tumbling down, but it didn't stop the flood of them. Alexis swallowed, then took a deep breath. The High Transmechanic was holding the line. She wasn't sure if it was going to last. The return fire from within was dwindling, and she could hear the screaming growing louder.

"Vyper, I need two of those cold grenades!" New Purchase: Type 004C Emergency Coolant Canister Points Reduced to: 42 She had a plan. It wasn't a very good plan. Grabbing the first of the two canisters, she pulled the tab, set the timer for five seconds, then threw. The next one flew out a moment later. They both bounced off the floor plates a few metres behind the main body of genestealers, then rolled to a stop more or less in the centre of the group. Then they burst.

Kills Confirmed: 7x Genestealers New Point Total: 112 Alexis moved out from cover, lasrifle at her shoulder. She was firing as she moved, only able to keep up thanks to her new arm not having any muscles that would have a difficult time supporting the weight of her rifle while moving. The genestealers took a long moment to realize what was happening. They weren't equipped for a sudden blast of freezing air, and even less equipped for an enemy to be shooting them from behind.

A few of them shouted and spun around, but Alexis ignored those. Her focus was on the mutants with guns. With so few able to squeeze into the destroyed doors at once, those firing from behind cover were the biggest threat to the people guarding the communications array. She tagged one of them in the back of the head, then sprayed down another. Then the group that wasn't frozen in place started to charge at her. She stepped back, allowing K84-321 to take the lead.

The servitor met the first charging genestealer with a hard right hook, which sent the mutant crashing to the ground with fewer teeth than it had started with. They ended the genestealer by stomping on its head, then raised their pneumatics for the next one. The genestealers went wide, but Alexis managed to tag a few more of them, even if her shots were a little erratic. Then when two more came in from the side, then found themselves at the mercy of KYS who dropped down from the ceiling scalpels-first.

Her medicae precision allowed her to insert the short blades directly between the joints of spines, disabling the genestealers in seconds. The only close call came when a genestealer finally made it to her and swung a pipe towards her head. On reflex, Alexis raised her arm, only to remember how that went last time. The pipe cracked into her arm and... didn't do much. There was a shock in her shoulder, but the arm was entirely unhurt.

She whipped her hand around and grabbed the genestealer by the neck, holding him back from herself even as they flailed wildly. She had dropped her rifle in the scuffle, but her foam sprayer was at hand. She spun it around, aimed the nozzle into the genestealer's face, then tossed him back while the foam expanded around his face. Looking around, Alexis was happy to see that the genestealers left in this room were either groaning on the ground, or frozen statues crowded around the entrance.

"Is everyone alright?" she asked. She received affirmative feelings from both of her friends, though she couldn't help but notice that K84-321 was dinged up pretty hard. KYS, on the other hand, was covered in copious amounts of blood, but was otherwise unharmed.

"Okay," Alexis said.

"Let's see if High Transmechanic Dracovos will be upset with us if we help him."