Chương 20: Chapter 19: War for the lower decks. Part 1

Part 1 POV: Nicole The number of genestealers popping out of hibernation is rapidly going from concerning to untenable as we sprint for the entrance.

"Reloading!" I warn Brother Silverwalker as I use my dendrite to grab a fresh power pack and slap it into my hellpistol, my ballistic dendrite shooting at targets to provide covering fire off to my right. Thankfully, the half-frozen genestealers don't seem to have much coordination going on and instead are throwing themselves at us with complete abandon. A clear sign the Broodlord hasn't roused itself just yet. That's the only good sign however, as the way out is now slowly growing congested with enemy xenos.

As one of the few individuals facing behind us as I lay over Brother Silverwalker's shoulder I can see a wave of genestealers coalescing behind us. I keep firing at the ones closest to us, as does the rest of our group. But it seems like every time we take down one at least two pop up to take its place.

"I see the doorway! Sixty seconds to threshold!" Lael yells as she runs. Everyone is focused on moving and engaging hostiles. It's only my Auspex that warns me as we draw closer to the yawning industrial entrance "Danger, above."

"Ambush! Above!" I yell out but a dozen ravenous Tyranid bioforms have already launched themselves down straight at our group. Brother Silverwalker shoots two out of the air but with one hand occupied holding me that's all he can manage. I nail one in the neck and we take out half of them before they close into melee range. My dendrite blades whip out unconsciously as two genestealers land practically on top of Brother Silverwalker and one lands on my back making me wince.

Two of my dendrite blades each parry a claw, and the third dendrite deflects the creature's bite attack. My refractor field blocks another set of strikes from the creature's other limbs stopping all the attacks but one that manages to slip through my defenses. I feel a burning pain in my leg as the razor-sharp claws puncture through my advanced carapace armor like a knife through wet cardboard and bury into the flesh of my thigh from behind.

I scream and reach down at my hip snap drawing my Wrath Pistol and firing it at point blank range over my shoulder. The barrel resting right under the monster's chin. The head explodes violently as the hot plasma bolt goes clean through its skull, showering my upper body and parts of Brother Silverwalker with steaming ichor and gore. I grit my teeth and hiss as the corpse slumps and I have to kick it away in order to make the claws slip free.

"Fuck!" I yelp, thankfully my suit is already sealing the area and my Autosanguine blood is working on the wounds. It was a little too close for comfort an inch or so higher and that would have clipped an artery.

"Nicole!?" Lael is cradling her left arm which bears a puncture wound, despite that she's focused on me.

"I'm fine! Didn't hit anything vital. We can't stop." I grunt out as my eyes water from the intensely painful sensation. To add to the injury the rents in my armor opened my leg to the bone chilling cold air for several seconds. Brother Silverwalker has a few new claw marks on the exterior of his armor but is otherwise alright. We have some other wounds but thankfully the one headed at Arianwyn was moving fast enough to trigger the Eldar power field deflecting it away.

One of Delta-A3's Skitarii and Arianwyn's guards got the worst of it. The guard's armor looks like it went through a blender and he's bleeding profusely and the Skitarii is moving with a limp. One of the variants with an acidic mouth has absolutely ruined large parts of his torso and his left arm, the integrated weapon in that arm is ruined. I watch as Lael, the injured house guard and the Skitarii all stim themselves to keep going.

We clear the threshold but that isn't much of a consolation since the xenos are right behind us. I spare a glance over my shoulder. I can even see Gronk much further down the hallway looking our way.

"Gronk! Run!" I yell at the ratling who scampers away immediately. With a pistol in each hand I turn my attention behind us and start to liberally use my available ammunition. My implants in the background refining the combat protocols that help me aim. With the Hellpistol I need vitals or headshots, the plasma pistol head or torso shots are enough. I can see the wave of genestealers cross the threshold, the monsters are gaining on us.

Trailing little wispy lines of frozen vapor as they move at a frightening and frantic pace straight for us. We hear something moments later. Echoing down the corridor is a sound like an angry piledriver. ThunkThunkThunkThunk! Coming down the corridor is the familiar frame of Venerable Baldos as he pushes his finely tuned chassis into a sprint that would make a White Scar proud.

His Twin Lascannon has been swapped out, I took that off the other day and swapped it for his personal Multi-Melta so the weapon could undergo maintenance.

"Baldos!?" I squeak out as the Dreadnought flashes past us going the other way. He triggers his war horns and I can hear him yell through his loudspeakers.

"Foul Xenos! Be cleansed in the name of the Emperor!" I can only watch from my perch on Brother Silverwalker's shoulder as Baldos crashes into the wave of genestealers like a truck. —------------------------------------------------------------------------ POV: Baldos Baldos waited until he was good and stuck in before he fired. He had wanted to get a good look at these Tyranids, they were a lot uglier than he remembered. He fired his Multi-Melta at nearly point blank range into the largest cluster.

The beam of heat struck the foul creatures with an unexpected reaction. The first one the beam struck hissed for a brief second like an angry teapot and then exploded violently into a pile of shards as the Multi-Melta made the nearly frozen creature go from sub zero past boiling it experienced an extreme and violent case of thermal shock. The entire cluster exploded like popcorn the moment the beam touched them.

He swept his arm around as he unleashed a hail of death with his storm bolter and then caught one of the bugs mid air as it leapt at him only to get crushed in his claw.

"There sure are a lot of you ugly bastards. One of you nicked our little Princeps. Was it you?!" STOMP"Was it you!?" CRUSH"I don't know who did it so I'll keep killing you till I figure it out! HAHAHA" Another blast from his Multi-Melta flash boiled nearly a dozen of the creatures.

"You better hurry up brothers I'm nearly a hundred deep. There's only so many filthy Xenos to go around down here. Why, I barely count two thousand of them right now! They're not even coordinating yet!" Baldos complained as he rotated his torso to throw off a few cheeky genestealers trying to climb onto him.

"Venerable, the leader creatures may still be rousing. The little Princeps warned of a Broodlord. Be wary. We know not what else lies within." Warned Brother Dragonmaw.

"The claws on these ones are sharp, already ruining my new paint! DIE!" Baldos continued his little rampage as he painted the floor and walls liberally with Tyranid blood.

"Since you're getting here so late, have someone bring me some more ammo while you're at it." Baldos said with a hearty chuckle.

"If you Melta them while they're still cold they pop like grenades!"

"How bad is it?" Brother Solantar asked curiously.

"We're gonna be at this for a while, brothers." Baldos admitted seriously as the number of hostiles he counted on sensors continued to increase rapidly. —-------------------------------------------------------------------- POV: Nicole We only slow our run to a walk when a whole cadre of ship armsmen with portable barricades sprint past us on the heels of Venerable Baldos.

The first set of lifts are in sight though every single one is in use right now as people, vehicles, and defensive materials are being moved through at a staggering rate. Apothecary Sistus is there with a whole squad of Devastators. Seeing us approaching he comes over to look at our injuries.

"Princeps Nicole, you'll need a full antibiotic load. The wounds are deep but not life threatening. Your body is fixing itself already, try not to walk on your leg. Miss Lael will need a dose as well. The guard…" He pauses to get on the Vox.

"Magos Gertrude I have located a suitable candidate for testing the Recovery Chambers."

"I'll take him. Send him up." Gertrude replies curtly.

"You will be escorted to Magos Gertrude for healing." he informs the guard who looks relieved as they limp over and then are put on a cot and carried off.

"Why don't we stay and help?" I suggest.

"Absolutely not." Master Doll's voice speaks from the floating Servo Skull.

"You will be leaving on the next lift and heading to the medical bay. The only individual permitted to remain is Brother Silverwalker. Lady Arianwyn and her remaining guards are to return to her chambers. Delta-A3 will continue to guard you while the other Skitarii are sent for healing and repairs."

"I can help" I mutter demurely.

"I killed sixty three Xenos at range and one in melee."

"You can assist us by going over the data you gathered and identifying other possible bioform threats. The ship is mobilizing to contain this outbreak. You are too valuable to risk on the frontlines outside of your Knight which is not yet ready for combat."

"Oh! If we want to know all the entrances to the module we should have Gronk talk to one of the officers." I suggest pointing out the Ratling who was cowering in a small alcove nearby.

"That idea has merit. I will contact one of the guards." Master Doll states as the lift nearby opens and out rumbles a Leman Russ Exterminator and another wave of men and Astartes.

"You will now get on the lift." Doll told me firmly as the Skull hovered onto the lift. I don't walk so much as I am placed in the lift by Brother Silverwalker, leaning on Delta-A3 for support as I keep my weight off my injured leg.

"Sorry, Master Doll." I say with a small sigh.

"I didn't realize this would happen."

"Did you know there were Tyranids inside? No, I think not. You are not to blame for the source of this issue. You merely brought it to our immediate attention. Had they been unleashed at some other point it could have been far more disastrous." Doll tells me flatly which does help me feel a bit better. —-------------------------------------------------------------- POV: Sergeant Jari Su Sergeant Su was no stranger to getting fully kitted up in a hurry. The moment the alarm went off he was up and already moving.

Making sure his personal Vox was on first to try and catch any of the open com chatter.

"A large force of hostile Xenos has been discovered on the ship. We are establishing a perimeter. Major, have your men secure the port side of the chamber. The Mechanicus will take the starboard and aft. The Astartes have taken the prow facing side. I will ensure none of them get above decks. Securing the portions facing the lower decks is going to be… problematic."

"Yes Sir! What kind of Xenos is it, Sir?" The Major asked politely.

"Tyranids." The line clicked closed a moment later and Jari knew he was in for a long day.

"Ugh, I hate bugs" He groaned as he grabbed his armor and finished strapping it on. He put on his helmet and grabbed his weapons before heading to report in. The brass were already studying a detailed holographic map of the ship when he walked in to stand with the other sergeants behind the captains. He wasn't the last one to arrive thankfully so he had probably dodged the worst assignment.

"We can erect and fortify choke points here, here and here." The Major pointed to the specific deck locations.

"We need to plan around ventilation ducts and maintenance shafts as well. Genestealers can get into places you really think they shouldn't, like rats. What's the status of the front?" He asked the main vox operator.

"The Astartes Dreadnoughts are holding the creatures at bay for now. We have supporting armor and the 2nd rolling up with portable barriers and heavy weapons. We could fit the Shadowsword down there and still park two tanks on either side. Mostly open ground, good sightlines for the most part sir."

"Yeah that won't last. This is them still shaking off the rust. Once their leader organisms wake up they'll get organized and stop throwing chaff into the grinder." The Major growls.

"We need to finish the encirclement before they start trying to break out. If we don't, our own ship is going to get as comfortable and friendly as the jungles of Catachan. Squads should check in every ten. No man goes anywhere alone. Patrols of three minimum. Move out!" The Major barks as everyone salutes.

"Sergeant Su! Take three squads to the port side maintenance tunnels deck 107. Secure the main junction." The Captain told him as he went down the line giving them different points to secure.

"Rules of engagement?" Sergeant Su asked as he pulled out his dataslate to look up the tunnels in question on his map.

"Standard. If it isn't human, kill it." The Captain said with a shrug before adding "Try not to put holes in the walls. The field bracing is on but still if anyone's packing plasma or melta tell them to behave." —--------------------------------------------------------- POV: Baldos Holding the breach with his brothers against the enemies of mankind. What more could a Dreadnought ask for? The enemy leader bioform's head on a pike, he supposed but that vile creature had not yet shown itself.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Baldos held the point position as was only proper. Brother Dragonmaw was in the rear of their diamond formation, his Deredeo lacked a melee weapon aside from his legs. Not that it stopped him from mulching his way through their foes with his glorious Anvilus autocannon battery and Twin Heavy Bolters.

Brother Silverwalker in his Contemptor to his right, the position of honor, using his own Multi-Melta to enjoy the satisfying pop the frozen genestealers made when they exploded from heat shock. Using his wicked clawed hand to reap the lives of their foes. Leaving the left side to Brother Solantor in his Ironclad. A glorious storm of mayhem as he unleashed his Hurricane Bolters, and Meltagun, and mulched anything that dared enter melee with his Seismic Hammer.

Was it overkill to use such a powerful siege weapon on such foes? Probably. Did it spray gore profusely around the entire battlefield whenever one of the ugly Xenos found itself facing the ornate dragon's head of the hydraulic ram? Certainly. Was it gloriously violent in the Emperor's name? Absolutely. Their backup was already building fortifications behind them. Brother Astrovas was also somewhere nearby monitoring for the psychic presence of other bioforms.

"Brothers!" Astrovas called out and Baldos noticed immediately. The enemies all paused for a brief moment, most of the creatures suddenly retreating while the remainder launched much more coordinated assaults than the frantic and simple tactics they had been using moments before.

"So it begins, Brothers. The real fight begins now." —---------------------------------------------------------- POV: Nicole I flinch as another injector pierces my skin giving me my fourth cocktail of antibiotics to fight off any horrible disease the creature might have left in my leg which had gotten some biodegradable stitches from one of the friendly Biologis Technomancers. I was told to lay there and behave so I did what Master Doll had bade me.

I was going over the data I gathered from the ball for other complex bioforms. I hadn't expected to find anything other than the Broodlord and Genestealers. But I had.

"Master Doll." I ping him as he is busy coordinating with the other Magi and Skitarii.

"Yes, Nicole?" Doll replies promptly, his tone curious.

"I have done as you asked and identified additional bioforms within the sphere, these are the minimum estimates. A dozen Tyranid Warriors all of them were close combat variants with claws, talons, swords and whips. Two Raveners, three Lictors, a Carnifex also kitted for melee, and what I believe is a Dimachaeron and a Malanthrope. They were at the range limit of my auspex so I only got partials but what I do see sticks out as unusual compared to the rest."

I start sending him my data on each organism and matching file in the archives.

"We also need to be wary. Hive Fleet Ouroboris is known for two factors. The bioforms boast a more primitive morphology than most and it favors flying units and fast attacks. They might try to spawn fliers if they deem it feasible." I state firmly.

"Nicole, I do not have this Hive Fleet in my Tyranid repository. Where is the data located?" Doll asks me and I fidget in my medical bed feeling relieved he wasn't in the room with me.

"You can find it in the Mars database. The data tied to the sensor data of Mechanica Cranus. The ancient data there is linked to the reappearance of this hive fleet and given its designation in the Thracian Sector as well as tied to the loss of the Cadian 14th on the world of Shukra." I explain softly. Omitting the fact that portions of the data on the Hive Fleet are only there because that's where I could put it after I added to it without it getting flagged and link it to the other entries.

"Well this is good. I will pass this on to the others. Enjoy your rest." Doll tells me firmly. Unspoken is the order to not even consider heading down to help. Doll even flagged me so if I try to go down to that part of the ship he'll be alerted. I decided to check and Gertrude and Xor have flagged me to keep me from entering the Xenos Librarium or the Recovery Chambers as well.

"Master can't really expect me to sit around and do nothing, can he?" I grumble aloud. I pull up my map and eye the third location I have marked for exploration. There's no way my luck is bad enough to stumble on a third horrible thing right? I shouldn't jinx myself like that... This is Warhammer, after all, so I should be careful. With an active battle going on against the Tyranids I really wouldn't want to stumble on another ancient horror.

The rooms aren't very big so they're clearly filled to the brim with Unbound Daemon hosts or an unstable virus bomb. I'll just go down, peek through the walls with my Auspex, and come back later with a small army.

"Hey Delta, how about we go for a nice relaxing walk on the opposite side of the ship from all the Xenos?" I ask sweetly. My guard looks down at me suspiciously.

"That sounds acceptable, Princeps. We may depart after your treatments are finished and you have a meal." —------------------------------------------------------------ POV: Sergeant Jari Su Jari Su idly wondered what he had done to deserve his current situation. He had taken his boys and set up at the main junction for the aft maintenance tunnels of deck 107. He had left a full squad there with a heavy bolter emplacement. They should have seen the enemy coming. They hadn't seen them coming.

The chatter on coms indicated that they had gone from frothing feral beasts to well organized and thinking predators in a span of seconds once the synapse network kicked in. The creatures had started slowly, systematically killing the light sources in the tunnels one by one in the distance and slowly crept closer. Jari had put one of his best guys up on overwatch. Jackal Bolten Smith was probably the best sharpshooter Jari knew of on the ship.

He had used a grapnel to pull himself up onto the ceiling and zeroed his rifle down the main corridor once he had secured himself. Jackal had gotten the first confirmed kill when one of the things peeked a corner a little too long. A minute later they had repelled the first probing assault. The things were lightning quick and more durable than they looked.

Still, they had repelled the next first few waves effectively and figured they would probably head off to try their luck with the other teams when the monsters stopped coming. After an hour they had rotated some of the men, Jari had let some of them start short patrols within line of sight of the defense station. Jari had been talking with one of his men, Corporal Elam had been leaning on what should have been a solid durasteel wall.

All the sudden a three clawed hand had sprouted from his chest cavity and splattered Jari across the face with Elam's blood.

"Contact! They're in the walls!" He screamed as snapped up his bolter, aimed and snap fired a round into the retreating limb, blowing off two digits and a chunk of meat before it vanished back into the wall. Corporal Elam's corpse had slumped down to the floor, a surprised look still on his face as Jari looked at the hole. The monster had accurately clawed through two inches of steel like it was paper. Trooper Jones had both his legs ripped off from below.

Trooper Locanne walked too close to a vent and had her head ripped off. Trooper Gregor was the one that really shocked Jari, Gregor had thrown a grenade and the thing had tossed it back. Those were just the ones he saw the other junctions were having a similar time. He was down nine soldiers already. Jari had gone from three full squads to just over two. He had needed to adapt.

The creatures were always attacking from blind spots with the lethal efficiency of true predators, so Jari had put himself in a vulnerable spot. Jari had asked for and gotten volunteers, so several of his other men were placed in similar situations. He crouched gun facing down a corridor, with back to a small opening in the wall. Counting by the seconds. He felt the hairs on his neck stand up but he didn't turn around even when his palms started to sweat.

He waited until he heard the faint click and then threw himself to the deck as the pair of anti personnel mines he planted inside the alcove went off. Jari rolled to his feet and swung around facing the hole now leaking Xenos blood and viscera with his gun at the ready. Over the Vox he heard similar results from the other bait units.

"Our little trick worked guys. We need another one. I don't think they'll fall for it twice." He called out as he made his way back to the junction.

"Sergeant! I think they're pissed at me! A whole swarm of them on the ceiling!" Jackal called out before the crack of his rifle was heard. Jari growled and ran back over and saw a spotlight on at least ten of the things moving with frightening speed upside down on the freaking ceiling!

"Please just fuck off and die." Jari growled as he did his best to gun down the aliens charging at his sharpshooter.

"Jackal, fall back!" The sharpshooter had come down after the Xenos had been finished off but not before hefting his rifle to show the barrel was missing a good three inches of metal.

"That was a little too close for me, Sarge." He said wearily. Jari stared down at his map and chewed on the inside of his cheek before he noticed something in the layout that drew his eye.

"Someone get me a Vox operator! I have an idea, but we're gonna need flamers, heavy flamers if we can get them." —------------------------------------------------------------------- POV: Nicole I walk down a fairly spartan corridor with Delta-A3 trailing just behind me at a sedate pace in order to not upset my still regenerating leg wounds, the nanites are hard at work but it's not some mystical instant process.

I make a few turns seemingly at random but there is a specific pattern of turns I need to take to get to my destination. I round a final corner and come to the end of the suspiciously long dead end hallway.

"Alright we're here." I tell Delta who moves to stand right next to me as I pull up my auspex and then step forward. In just the first few steps my auspex starts penetrating the walls and I notice the hidden defenses.

"There are a lot of weapon emplacements hidden in the walls."

"That is concerning." Delta states, eyeing the walls wearily as I keep making my way forward. Halfway down the corridor I stop and gasp softly "By the Omnissiah" I whisper my eyes wide.

"What?" Delta asks firmly as he readies his weapon.

"I think there are… Murder Servitor pods. A lot of Murder Servitor pods behind the walls. At least fifty." I state which doesn't seem to improve Delta's mood. As we reach the last stint in the hallway a robotic voice calls out.

"This is a restricted area. Identify yourself."

"Nicole Cavalerio." I say firmly. I stare ahead as the formerly seamless wall suddenly splits and shifts forming a sealed entryway. A servo skull-like device attached to the wall with a thick cable emerges and a single glowing red eye regards me critically.

"Nicole Cavalerio. It has been eighty seven million six hundred thousand and seventy five hours since your presence was last logged. Biological identity verification is required." A small port opens from the underside of the skull's upper jaw and slides down. It's a bioscanner designed to take a small blood sample.

I step forward and place a finger inside the small device and manage not to flinch at the small prick on the tip of my finger as it takes the blood sample and discreetly scans my finger for signs of manipulation and bioelectric impulses. The skull's eye glows brightly as it processes the sample.

"Identity. Verified. Welcome back, Lady Cavalerio." The wall behind the skull starts to flex and shift as the extremely intricate locking mechanisms start to open one after the other.

"Lady Cavalerio. Due to inactivity the Tempestus Contingency has triggered. Question: Are you the eldest member of house Cavalerio currently aboard?"

"I am" I say confidently.

"Verifying… Machine Spirit Argent confirms… Confirmed… Subject: Lady Cavalerio. Qualifications for inheritance protocols: Met. Lady Cavalerio, would you like to assume control and responsibility for all House Cavalerio assets within Cavalerio house storage and Cavalerio labs?"

"Yes?" I reply hesitantly glancing at Delta-A3 who is standing next to me frozen stiff.

"Confirming." There is a loud grinding of massive gears from the walls as a banner drapes itself from the ceiling. A blue flag, with a white circle outlined in black at the center with a black avian surrounded by gold lightning bolts hangs.

"Long live the Matriarch: Nicole Cavalerio!" From the speakers in the skull and walls the sound of a bell tolled.

"Long live House Cavalerio!" The bell rang twice more, slightly louder this time.

"Tempestus Eternal!" This time the bell had a deeper tone that reminded me of thunder as it rang three times.

"May the light of the Omnissiah guide you." The sounds cut out abruptly and the skull retracts back into the socket facing downwards to watch over the entrance. The door hisses as it opens for the first time in millennia. A bright white light spills out and momentarily blinds me before my eyes adjust and I take in just what I've inherited.