Chương 73: Volume Two - Chapter Ten - Planetbound

Octavia's last ride in a shuttle had been a quick and easy affair. It had been one of those large passenger barges, and she had ridden in the back, squeezed into an all-metal seat so tight that her knees were knocking together for the entire nineteen-hour flight. That was when she boarded the Broken Scale all of... was it already a couple of months ago? Time flew! In any case, the last experience hadn't been pleasant.

The passenger barge was tight, smelled like sweat, and the ride had jostled and shaken the entire time. Right now, she was standing in front of a much, much smaller shuttle. The shuttle was an Aquila, named after the famous two-headed eagle, probably. She didn't know much about ships and the like, but she figured she could tease that information and a lot more out of Alexis if she asked. This shuttle was night and day compared to her last ride.

That one didn't have golden gilding on its wings, or the royal crest of a noble home embossed in its steel sides. Moving around to the back, she was given a respectable amount of distance by the crew serving the ship. Mostly young men in overalls, with a few tech priests waving incense burners around and filling the air with the mixed scent of burning wood and promethium vapours. The back of the Aquila was opened, and she stepped in to find a small interior. No, small was the wrong word.

Sure, it wasn't large, but the ship had a divan. Not chairs, not a bench, but a properly upholstered sofa built into a curve at the back. There was a fridge, which she was determined to pillage later, and also three murder servitors and an Alexis.

"Hello!" Alexis said with a little wave. She was standing in the middle of the space, all of her mechadendrites pulled in and her arms close by her sides.

"Hey," Octavia said as she stomped up the ramp and then landed on one of the couches. Comfy.

"You, uh, okay there?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I guess I'm a little nervous," Alexis said. She giggled. Her eyes looked a little too manic for the laughter to feel real.

"Well, don't be!" Octavia said.

"What's the worst that could happen?"

"Ah? Well, I gave this shuttle a once-over. It's in a fantastic state. Its maintenance record is flawless, and it was blessed by the work of one of The Broken Scale's chief voidwrights. I am certain it is capable of bringing us onto the surface."

"See, nothing to worry about," Octavia said.

"But that doesn't mean that it's equipped for handling ork flyers. Or worse, the possibility that the locals accidentally misread our friend-or-foe signals and blow us out of the sky."

"Okay, so maybe a few things to worry about," Octavia admitted.

"But standing there stiff like a fresh candle isn't going to help anything. Sit down."

"Right! I should strap in. That may have a measurable increase in our likelihood of surviving!" Alexis moved over to the far end of the divan and sat down, then she fiddled with her belt before looking over the belt for that weird medicae servitor she had following her around. The other two were fixed in place already, quick-release straps holding them anchored to the ceiling and floor.

"Those won't go flying in here to crush us both once we take off, right?" Octavia asked.

"Huh? No, of course not," Alexis said, rather dismissively. One of the big servitors turned its head towards Octavia and scanned her. Octavia shrugged and leaned back into the plush seat. Right now, the shuttles--which were noticeably not as comfortable as this one--were being loaded up with a small strike force. She was well aware that there were at least ten members of the Sororitas coming along. Full members, in power armour, with their best gear.

It wasn't just because there was the possibility that they'd find an STC (a plan that Vena had given her the details on already) but because she was here. Their little involuntary saint. If she was someone who cared, she might even have been nervous about it, but Octavia decided that stress wasn't for her. Instead, she chatted up the pilots as they came aboard, asking them if she could have a turn behind the yoke and then laughing in good humour when they said no.

The ramp at the rear shut, and the room's pressure shifted. Then they were moving, the shuttle being brought through The Broken Scale's hangar. Octavia bounced her feet on the floor, then checked her weapons over. Bolter, loaded. Melta, filled. Chainsword... still swordy. Octavia had a small pack with her. Standard issue for full members. It was designed to clamp onto her power armour's back. Hers was filled with rations, some tarpaulin and a sleeping roll, and a multi-tool as well as a small folding shovel.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. She pilfered the Aquila's minifridge, taking a swig of strong amasec before offering it to Alexis while coughing. When the mechanicus girl refused, she switched to water instead. The Aquila eventually took off, rattling around for a while before its flight went quiet and smooth.

"How long until we land?" Octavia asked.

"Not too long," Alexis said.

"It's going to be a rapid insertion. If everything goes well, we'll be-- Oh my Omnissiah! I forgot!" Octavia jumped at that, then stared as Alexis pulled out a small vox pack from a sack and flicked a few knobs.

"This is Alexis Lambda-3, of Snakebite. Over." The vox hissed, then a voice came over it. That Velpeca guy who'd been in a few meetings.

"We read you, Alexis Lambda-3," he said.

"Time until insertion into the upper atmosphere is twenty-seven minutes. Time to landfall, forty-three minutes. Once you're on the ground, I will want a comprehensive report on the situation."

"Yes, sir," Alexis replied.

"Ah, Octavia was asking about the overall mission parameters."

"We covered this already. But I suppose redundancy is righteousness. Once the landers have made successful touchdowns, all members of Task Force Snakebite are to gather at designated Site Alpha. It is a lightly forested area near Overcliff. From there, you are to trek to the keep and attempt insertion. If the keep is occupied by enemy forces, you are to eliminate them without prejudice. Securing a foothold within the keep is important, specifically one with rooftop access.

There are several key infrastructural areas that must be secured within twelve hours of insertion. Once we have a better assessment of the keep, I will make a judgement call with regards to those."

"Understood," Alexis said. She turned to Octavia and then shrugged.

"Sounds a little complicated, I know, but it's mostly just... arrive at the keep, secure it, then hopefully kill a lot of orks if they show up. We need the points."

"Yeah," Octavia said.

"Could use those. Hey, you didn't forget Vena's little gift, did you?"

"K84-321 is carrying it," she said with a nod. Octavia was happy that someone remembered it before they were gone. Turning the shuttle around now would have been awkward.

"Good. I'm looking forward to this. I hope the place is filled to the brim with orks."

"I don't know if I'm hoping for that," Alexis said.

"I heard that orks are kind of intelligent, in their own way."

"Are you going to feel guilty?" Octavia asked.

"Huh? Oh, no, they're filthy xenos. Their primitive technology is an affront to the Omnissiah and they pervert and steal the workings of man," Alexis said.

"I don't think I could ever forgive them for that. Even if they asked for it."

"Forgiveness is between the xeno and the God Emperor. We're just arranging the meeting," Octavia assured her. They started to talk about this and that. It wasn't deep, exactly, but it was nice enough. Alexis was curious about her power armour, and Octavia was surprised and a little disturbed to learn that Alexis had very little by way of protection. She supposed having a trio of giant murder servitors kind of made armour less immediately useful, but it rubbed her the wrong way.

One should enter every battle clad in the armour of faith. And also power armour, if at all possible. That last bit was her own addition to the saying, but she had a suspicion that more sisters were saved by armour than faith, at least when the xeno bullets were flying. The shuttle hit atmosphere soon after. Then it was flying through the sky in a hurry. She felt the planet's gravity asserting itself over her.

It was subtly different than the gravity on The Broken Scale and different from the gravity on the last world she was on. If anything, Chrysis might have been a little less strong when it came to that kind of thing.

"Landing in two minutes," their pilot eventually announced. Octavia checked her guns again, then undid her straps, much to Alexis' obvious consternation. The Tech Adept's mechadendrites stretched out, both of them holding onto a simple laspistol. The shuttle slowed down, hard, and Octavia was almost thrown off her feet. Then they touched the ground with a bang and a hiss of hydraulics, and the rear ramp slammed open.

"Let's go!" she said. She wanted to shoot the first xeno herself!