Librarian - The Beginning

[embalancer]

Ok i did put this up on the BL forums a while back but as they're down and don't look like they're coming back for a while I figure i'd put it up here. The original idea was to get a detailed look at librarians that always seemed to be a bit of stock character in 40k books of course that all changed once A Thousand SOns came out but that just drove me to write this bit of fan fic more. If you think of this as a Ragnar book in the style of the Eisenhorn Trilogy you shouldn't be far off. All comments good and bad are welcome (how can i improve a writer if i'm not told of my faults) and i hope you enjoy

 

- Emb

[embalancer]

LIBRARIAN: THE BEGINNING

 

Prologue

 

 

The ramp of the Land Raider dropped and let the harsh desert sun inside the ancient tank. I could hear the whine of the God Hammer Lascannons going off and the rattle of storm bolter on top as it was unleashed upon the Tyranids horde coming towards us. The Land Raider was unleashing such a vicious assault against the Tyranids that they tried to give it a wide berth. They would not be given the luxury.

 

As the ramp dropped Brother Kontas was the first that stepped from the Land Raider with his heavy bolter in hand unleashed the Emperor’s wrath against these foul xeno. As each bolter hit into the Hormagaunt carapace armour, it exploded causing the creature to rear up in pain as the mutagenic acid began to burn its way into the carapace, by the time. The second or third round had hit the abomination it would lie down dead.

 

A moment after Brother Kontas began his assault Brothers Jlar and Eli stepped out of the Land Raider and took up position either side of the ramp and began to carefully pick apart the Tyranids in a efficient manner that is known of the Blood Ravens. Soon after Brothers Able and Zarkov stepped into the fray, Bolters in one hand already barking their explosive rounds into the vast ocean of xenos now were surrounding us, combat knives in the other ready if any Tyranid is able to slip past any of the firing lines. Then it was my turn.

 

With the psychic hood I can see souls, the passionate souls of the Eldar, the pure souls of our Grey Knight Brothers, the sadistic souls of the Dark Eldar and the firestorm of souls from an Ork WAAAGH. With Tyranids it’s different even the Orks have a small sense of self like individual flames in an inferno, but with the Tyranids it was like facing a wall of static making it difficult for me to see the warp. It’s unsettling to see at least and meant I had to rise my mind into the higher ascensions.

 

I tried to draw from the warp to draw its ethereal energies into my mind. It was more difficult to draw large amounts of power from the higher ascensions but it does mean that your mind is more protected from the warp. Then I saw the eight paths of the warp open up in my mind. The Red path of energy, the orange of force, the green path of time, the blue of mind, the violet of body, the grey of matter and the white path of soul. I drew from the orange path, the path of force, the power to move the world around me with nothing but my mind. I shaped with my will and focused it in my outstretched hand. After a moment of focusing a saw a bright white ball of warp energy and as I saw it I released it upon the nearest Tyranid.

 

The ball flew like a rocket and impacted against the Hormagaunt as thought the Emperor himself had struck the abomination with a warhammer causing the xeno’s side to collapse in on it’s self as it died. I step forward while unleashing another force bolt against another Hormagaunt as I heard Brother Callidon, Talius and Gallus step out of the Land Raider adding there fire power to the assault.

 

There was suddenly a loud piercing screech that was deafening for a moment before our helmets blocked out the harmful sound. A Tyranid about five times the size as the rest of the Hormagaunt rose and began to charge at our position. I pressed the vox bead.

+BROTHER FREEMAN, YOUR FIREPOWER WOULD BE USEFUL ABOUT NOW+

+UNDERSTOOD+ he a said in his quiet low voice.

Then Brother Freeman made his way onto the ramp and got down on one knee as he raised his plasma gun to his shoulder took careful aim and unleashed a searing beam at the Carnifex. The beam struck true causing the Carnifex to scream in pain as it was hit with the blazing force of a star but it still kept heading towards our position.

+BROTHER ERMION, WE HAVE A CARNIFEX HEADING FOR OUR POSITION AND WE REQUIRE HEAVY FIRE SUPPORT+

A moment passed.

+UNDERSTOOD SUPPORT IS ON IT’S WAY+

 

After a moment a torrent of missiles and Las beams from a position behind us were unleashed striking the Carnifex with enough force for to be knocked sideways. A few seconds later there was a roaring of jet packs overhead as a formation of five assault marines flew overhead dropping frag grenades into the midst of Tyranids each explosion ripping all of the nearby creatures apart. As they reached the where the Carnifex was lying down they dropped several melta bombs on the abhorrence as they flew back I saw a pack flying Tyranids above the Assault squad.

+SERGEANT MORPHUS, BE WARNED THAT THERE IS A PACK OF GARGOYLES ABOVE YOU+

The Sergeant turned round in mid air and saw the pack and began to fire hit bolt pistol at them. The Gargoyles returned fire blobs of green acid soon started issuing from them. As they hit the power armour it began to smoke and disintegrate.

+SERGEANT, DIVE+ I barked at him as I began to draw on the powers from the red path of the warp, the path of energy of fire and lightning and focused them the psy-foci on top of my psychic hood. As I saw the Sergeant dive I released the energy stored in the psi-foci on top of my hood. From its tip a stream of lightening shot forward and struck the nearest gargoyle causing it to explode in mid air.

 

The small problem with this attack was that it caused the Gargoyles acid sacs to burst and spray the area bellow it with harsh bio acid. With a large proportion landing on the Sergeants jet back, which then spluttered and died as the damage was too much for the machine spirit that dwelled within. With a shock of horror I saw him fly towards the ground and release his jetpack and let it fly off and explode into continuing vast hordes of Tyranids. I memorised Morphus’s last position.

+TITUS NO+ barked a voice in my helmet.

I turned round to see that it was Brother-Sergeant Glenn. Bolt pistol firing away in one hand chainsword going in the other. I turned and ignored him.

 

I forced my will into the ancient Eldar spear causing it to light up with a brilliant white light and struck out at the nearest Tyranid. Its carapace armour was no match for the spears mono molecular edge let alone the warp energy that exploded as soon the spear touched any Tyranid and I cleaved the nearest Tyranid in two and then used that momentum to spin round and sliced into the next nearest on and pressed on towards Sergeant Morphus’s position.

 

Though the Sergeant had only fallen less than twenty meters away with the continuous current of Tyranids it might as well of been twenty planets away but I wouldn’t give up. For I am one of the great fathers chosen, sword of Vidya. I would not give up I would defend all those I have vowed to protect even my own battle brothers.

 

I finally reached Morphus he was in a bad way. Most of his armour had been all but destroyed with long deep gashes all over his body. He was struggling with his injuries as his normally precise strikes with his chain sword were now wild and savage. As one Hormagaunt was about to gore him I quickly leapt between them and raised my hand and drew from the orange path of the warp and formed a white wall it around Morphus and me. The creatures scythe struck the wall and a brilliant white flame flared up as it shrieked in pain and I thrust my spear piercing the armour and died as the energies of warp caused through its body. I pulled back and then brought the spear round and down slicing the nearby Tyranids which all feel to the spear as though they were made of water.

 

The next Hormagaunt launched itself at Morphus. I kept between the two and sent it flying with another bolt of warp energy and kept drawing the energy and forced my spear into the ground causing all the nearby abominations around Morphus and me to rise from the ground as though someone had turned off the gravity a moment later with a wave of my will the floating xenos flew and collided into their neighbours and continued to push the tide back., leaving me and Morphus a small island in a violent sea for a moment. but such was the force and numbers of the Tyranids that it was like throwing a pebble against a raging river.

“Brother I’d start chanting the hymn of purity.” I yelled.

“Shouldn’t we begin to chant for the Emperor to claim our soul” he wheezed.

“Leave that for later” I told him.

I then drew from the Orange path again but this time a lot deeper as went through the lower ascension and I opened the door of my mind to let more power in and quicker, but left it less protected I was vaguely aware that there was no sound anymore and that ice was forming on my armour and spreading from my feet even though we were in the middle of a burning desert.

“Titus?” Morphus was sounding a little worried. I then raised my hand and unleashed the power. A wall of white flame extended around me and Morphus. Any Tyranid that came into contact with the wall let out a wail as it got burnt and due to the pressure of the horde some were scrapped along the whole of the wall.

The ice extended, the ground began to buckle and I began to sing hymns of Purity as I focused some of my will to the runes in my mind to protect me from denizens of the warp as the rule is that you draw and burn the warp for very long as demons won’t be far behind.

My concentration was broken when there was a particularly hard strike on my shield. As though I was being rammed by a tank

“What the?” I said surprised.

“Zoanthrope” Morphus yelled, great if I didn’t have enough problems. I saw through the wall of static that the Tyranid horde was creating a particularly bright halo of the Zoanthrope.

“Be gone vile xeno” I snarled and let out a burst of warp energy that caused the all to explode outward knocking any Tyranid between me and the Zoanthrope and me out of the way.

 

Though it has been said that Tigurius of the Ultramarines is the only Librarian or being capable of being able to penetrate the hive mind of the Tyranids but even so I could sense the malevolence that issued off this creature like a foul stench. I brought my spear down and charged at the creature. The Zoanthrope let off another last of warp energy I forced my will into the spear and brought it down and deflected the blast into the horde Tyranids when I was about 5 meters away I leapt and brought the spear over my head and then brought it down upon the abomination. Unfortunately my timing was a little off.

 

The Zoanthorpe had begun to charge itself with warp power again as I struck and as my spear pierced its skull and the force of my will exploded inside the creatures head it left a pool of uncontrolled warp energy. I didn’t have any time to say anything constructive other than.

“oh -.”

I was enveloped in a wave of pure warp energy. I could feel my very soul being torn from my body, but I am a librarian I am one of the elite psykers in all of the Emperors domain, I have the abilities of the astropath without having my soul shatter and reforged by the Emperor himself I am feared by ancient demons, ancient races and the gods themselves. I focused my mind and willed my soul to stay attached to my body. Whispers of the demons were now so much stronger now as I didn’t have the strength to hold on to my soul and ignore them and I could hear them clearly now.

“Let go” said a seductively voice “let go and you shall find your hearts desire”

“Let go” a harsh voice said “surrender yourself to what you are Titus, a warrior, a god of war, surrender yourself to me and you shall no nothing but unending battle.”

“If that is the best you got” I snarled “be gone creatures of the warp” I screamed with my mind and then said “He is my shield for I am his sword, he is the ever watchful guardian …”

 

At these words I could hear a hiss as though the demons was actually getting scolded by the Litany then there was total silence as though I was drifting in space then a distant voice rang out.

“Titus”

“Magnus?” I said confused. It had been several lifetimes since I had heard that voice.

I hit the ground hard and was dimly aware of Morphus bending down and taking my bolter and started shooting the chaotic Tyranid horde and as I felt my consciousness slip away I thought back all those centuries ago to when I last saw my friend, my brother, Magnus the Red.

[astartes88]

lots of potential here, i like the way you describe and go into detail how he accesses the warp and his constant having to be on gaurd.

[embalancer]

Part 1: In the Hands of Fortune

 

Chapter 1

 

The Bird and the Rats

 

I was flying on the back of a giant bird that seemed to be nothing more than a silhouette against the sandy rock of the landscape. It dived into went into a canyon full of a flowing red liquid that gave off a tangy metallic smell. I knew that smell, there was only one substance that had that metallic smell, it was the smell of blood.

 

As we flew deeper and deeper into the canyon the sky began to darken and the rumble of thunder could be heard in the distance. Eventually the canyon widened into a bowl. The bird flew round the edge of the bowl once and the landed on a column of rock that was jutting out amongst the sea of blood. When the bird landed the wind began to pick up and started to howl in my ears and the waters started to boil and churn violently in two places. Out of the waters rose two giant figures that were standing on islands of rock which were only just big enough for them to stand on. The first was an armoured giant who wore red armour and glowing green eyes the second figure wasn’t human. The creature was as tall if not slightly taller than the armoured figure with skin the colour of moss its body was made up of bulging muscle with large yellowing tusks sticking out from its mouth. In its hand it held a very primitive looking axe that was covered in blood and gore of battle. It’s small watery eyes were focused on the armoured figure opposite.

“We approach” The green figure said a low guttural voice and turned to look at me. A moment later I was awoken by a huge flash of lighting.

 

I woke with a start in a cold sweat.

“Oh your awake then” Magnus smiling down at me.

 

Magnus was two years older than me at being 11 but was also cursed as he was tall and broad and had flaming mane of red hair. He also had a scar where his left eye should have been this was because a couple of years ago some drunken peace guilders thought that Magnus was the reincarnation of the Emperors fallen son Magnus the Red and so they cornered him and then decided to remove his eye to make him look like the great evil and then they brought him in front of the ecclesiarchy claiming him to be a mutant and in fact reincarnation of the dark prince of sorcery himself. I remember there being much upheaval as the priest of the ecclesiarchy stood over the bloody and broken remains of my brother and pronounced that his soul had been thoroughly tested and it was free of possession, but I remember there and then whilst clinging onto Ma Hubbard a wariness about the most devoted believers of the Emperor.

 

I kicked him off my mat.

“Of course I’m awake” I snapped.

“You ok? You were muttering in your sleep again.” He said frowning “you mentioned about something coming.”

He gave me a serious searching look from his one remaining eye.

“Sure” I tried to reassure him.

“You’re not having those warp dreams the warders have are you?”

The guild of warders is the group of psykers that deal with the ships defences against the warp and protect us from the creatures that live in the great expanse, but the fact was that to be in the guild you needed to be a cursed soul – a psyker.

 

In fact I’ll explain the entire ships guild system. I was living upon the chartist vessel called the Hand of Fortune it was an ancient and massive trading ship with a history spanning several millennia each function of the ship is run by a specialised group or caste of people called a guild for example The High Guild is all the officers that help run the ship, where the Guild of Custodious deal with ships security and the Guild of Motion are the workers that deal with holy machine priests in the Engine-Temple at the rear of the ship.

 

“No it was weird” I told him. “There was a bird a really being armoured creature and this other creature with a weird axe” I turned to see him frowning, I smiled “Don’t worry you’re still uglier”

Magnus was about to hit me when the room to our shelter rattled as it was hit with a fist.

“You boys coming out to do your duties or what?” it was Ma Hubbard.

I quickly got dressed in the brown shirt or more accurately brown rag of the ratters guild and shot out of our little cubby hole.

 

Where we wore the brown robes of the ratters guild Ma Hubbard wore the grimy Grey of the Guild of Feasts or the often referred to as the guild of fasts as most of their cooking made you want to take plenty of fast to avoid their cooking. Crazy old Jones believes that the ecclesiarchy encouraged the quality of the food to be so low to encourage the crew to fast so make ourselves pure and make our praises to the Emperor.

 

Ma Hubbard was a rarity on the ship as she looked after the children from another guild, though considering the fact that dealing with another guild was odd enough, but after our mum died Ma Hubbard took us in and looked after Magnus and me as there are so few ratters as most of our ranks are made up of servitors. She was a stooped old woman with greasy lank grey hair and a large hooked nose. She also wore a perpetually stern look on her face. She said thrusting a cloth bag into mine and Magnus’s hands. Inside were a canister of cloudy reprocessed water and a slab of Ma Hubbards gritty and grainy bread.

 

Me and Magnus began to run down the street which was part of the great gathering. a sort of market place where all the guild met and mixed like in one huge boiling pot which was stored in a high vaulted part of the ship which is rumoured to be one of the oldest parts of the ship along with the command sanctuary or the main Engine-Temple. The Gold Guild held stores down the street with various items that any member of a ship will need from texts to new bed clothes. The Guild of Desires could be seen standing outside small tents, wearing very little but somehow emphasised their curves and bumps and many male guilders would be enticed into the tents with the smell of exotic smelling incense and oils.

 

There members of the Guild of Delight were at street corners entertaining passers by juggling batons of fire or performing elegant dances in garish multicoloured costumes.

“Hey guys” Me and Magnus turned round. It was Ophia, she was another rarity as she was a member of the guild of delights as she could sing even the stoniest Custodious to tears, but seemed to talk to everyone regardless of guild, but I’ve noticed that children tend to be not as insular as the adults of a guild.

“Hey Ophia” Magnus said stroking his mass mane of red hair as though trying to tame it.

“What you up to?” she asked

“Work” I said shortly as we running late and I for one didn’t want to do penance duties.

“I saw you sing last night” Magnus said he said his skin gradually changing to match the colour of his hair. Oh brother.

“Really?” Ophia said her voice dripping like melted sugar. “And what did you think?”

I didn’t have time for this. Though Magnus was much bigger and certainly stockier than I was I had a lot of power in my wiry frame. So I grabbed his wrist firmly and forcibly yanked him away.

“Speak to you later Ophia” I called over my shoulder and continued to lead my brother to our duty station.

 

“What was that about?” Magnus said his skin still close to matching his hair but it was now an angrier shade than before.

“She’s delights Magnus” I told him “we shouldn’t even be talking to them.”

Magnus broke my grip on his wrist then it was his turn to put a vice like grip on my but this time on my arm as he pressed me up against a pole.

“Listen squirt” he hissed angrily “I’ll say this and I’ll say this once, there aren’t that many ratters on this ship, and most of them don’t talk to us as were outsiders, people still think I am the fallen son Magnus even though the psykers say I don’t have a spark of the warp in me, so when we have people talk to us, take advantage of it as we aren’t going to have it for too long.”

I squirmed guiltily as he was right. My mum and a baby Magnus left a planet (were not sure as she wouldn’t say) while she was pregnant with me, after a couple of months she ended up on the Fortunes hand with next to nothing apart from an infant son and another on the way. After a couple of months she ended up in the guild of the voices which were the diplomats of the ship and eventually gave birth to me. Apparently my mother was a extraordinary woman and gained the respect of a lot of people on the Fortunes hand which is rare for an outsider as most consider outside additions to any of the guild a needed but unwanted addition at best. Eventually though my mum ended up getting killed in a fight between two different noble houses on Vertial Marska. Though the ship lamented at her lost there were faction in the high guild that were considering to abandon us on the planet, luckily many friends of my mother came forward and we ended up in the Ratters Guild and were left to live out our lives in obscurity, but still being outsiders very few people wanted to do with us.

 

I mumbled “I guess.”

Which was the best comeback I could think of. Magnus let go of my arm and I rubbed it so to get the blood flowing into the rest of my arm. Magnus’s anger broke and then changed into a smile.

“Come on” he said, and we continued to walk to our duty station.

 

Our duty station was a small servitor vault that housed ratting servitors which were essentially skulls that housed the machine spirits of the servitors they were attached with augurs so they could see and detect any rats or vermin that would be scuttling around the various cargos on the ship, eight spidery legs so they could move about and move about more or less any where on the ship and a small las gun so to exterminate them.

The job of the Humans in the Ratters Guild was to instruct the servitors and deal with any of the nastier sort of vermin that sometimes infest the ship.

 

Inside the vault each of the servitors were housed in small individual coves that were stored round the edge of the room with the bottom row of coves being access tubes to the rest of the ship so that the servitors can get round the ship as quickly as possible. Magnus made his way to the great command shrine while I set about getting the servitors out of their coves and place them on the floor and begin the rite of awakening by pressing the sacred soul spot to awaken the machine spirit inside.

Magnus was in front of the command shrine and looked in the sacred text of the ratters and began to intone the appropriate rites and blessings to being the machine spirits under heel and perform their duty to the Emperor.

It was then did the strangest thing happened. The massive ship gave a massive violent lurch. It was so violent in fact that the machine spirits within the ship groaned in protest. Then the shuddered and low loud thuds can be heard sounding off the hull and for a moment the glo-orbs flickered.

“What’s happening?” I asked

“I don’t know” Magnus admitted but his voice was tense and held me close to him.

Then from within the ship a loud wailing began to sound from the ship herself.

[embalancer]

Chapter Two – The Rising of the Brotherhood

 

We made our way to the Great Gathering where everyone was looking round in confusion. The Gold Guild we’re hurrying in putting their wares away and trying to store them safely. The Guild of Delights had stopped performing their various acts and stood round looking for someone to explain what was actually happening.

“We need to find Ma” I said turning to Magnus who was trying to stop us getting stampeded by the flow of the crowd around us.

“Get on my shoulders” Magnus said and without much through I stood on his shoulders so I was now a head taller than most of the crowd. People were all milling around as far this seemed to be an unprecedented event. Though I did notice that seemed to be a parting in the vast ocean of people. I jumped off my brothers shoulders.

“Something’s coming this way” I informed him.

“Good or bad?” he asked

“I don’t know, but people seem to be trying to get out of the way of whatever it is as quickly as possible.”

As the thing came close we heard audible gasps as people tried to get out of the way of the event that was surging straight through the Great Gathering. I saw now that their were a couple of servo skulls that hovered scanning the crowd for something. I saw one of the skulls look at me and Magnus and focused on us for a couple of seconds when a deep slow voice called out.

“Found some”

“Members of the Ratters guild please stay where you are.”

I looked at my brother who was reflecting my confusion.

“Who wants anything to do with us?” I asked

“Damned if I know”

 

The crowd between us parted like one of the ancient bulkheads on the outer hull. It was a small group that came to us, three of them wore the silver and blue of the Order of Iron Serenity or the Iron Sen for short, who were dealt with the security of the ship. They were tall and burley men certainly didn’t eat from food provided by the guild of feasts. There was also a smaller and younger looking Iron Sen that looked about my age, he was short but much broader than me and looked in better shape, he had short cropped blonde hair where mine was long lank black hair which formed a curtain over my green eyes in comparison to his icy blue eyes. Apart from the officer from the high guild was a hooded figure with whom had metal tendrils sprouting out of his back with skull probes attached to the end of them constantly scanning the crowd, he was obviously a secret keeper from the Guild of Secrets.

 

I had heard of the Guild of Secrets but only in whispered rumour or is drunken tavern talk. It was said they were the eyes and ears of the ship seekers of truth bring brutal and swift action against any seed of corruption or decent within the ships crew, they were universally feared and as they recruit from the other guilds no one knows who they are and as such it makes trusting new people on the ship a problem as your never know if they’re with the secrets of not.

The final figure was obviously a figure from the high guild. She was in gold outfit that looked like segmented armour and underneath was a body glove of deepest royal blue. She wore an ornate mask that was half blue and half gold with finely spun wires of gold round the edge of the mask. From the looks of it she was completely bald.

She let out a series of what sounded like fast taps which were at different pitches.

“Come again?” I said a little confused as to why she was speaking in rhyme.

“Show the officer some respect.” The young Iron san spat venomously.

“I was – ” I started but could get much more out as my mouth was full of his fist.

Magnus reared to protect me from him and the three older Iron Sens suddenly had their shock sticks out and were ready to strike.

“Enough” The hooded figure of the guild of secrets ashenly whispered.

“You must forgive Majesty Velensk none of the high guild usually come to this part of the ship and only speak in binary, but for the time being I will translate.”

“What does she want?” Magnus said darkly.

“She needs you to activate the rites of war upon your servitors” the ship gave a series of thundering booms along the left hand side of the ship.

“What’s going on?” several of the people in the crowd called.

The Majesty and the Member from the guild of secrets exchanged bursts of binary that seemed to become more heated or passionate. After a moment the Guild of secrets member turned to address the crowd.

“It is not your place to question simply activate the rite of war on your servitors”

“The rites of war?” I asked “neither of us have heard that rite”

I then heard the angry hum of the shock sticks and quickly add

“but maybe the master knows?”

“Take us to him then” the secret keeper said.

Magnus and I exchanged uneasy looks. Pinning down Guild Master Aleria was not an easy feat. We then set off towards the servitor workshop after a moment the ship gave a violent lurch which caused everyone to stumble followed by three distant massive echo thuds as though someone was ring a bell the size of the great gathering. I could taste the fear in the room as the lights flickered.

“Quickly we must start the rite.” The secret keeper said. We started to move out of the great gathering and into the corridors that were a hive of activity Iron Sens were moving about with large amount of weapons and large burly men in red and gold armour were moving about in great haste with a look of purpose set on their face.

“Who are they?” I said looking over my shoulder as we pasted the third group of strange guilders.

“Don’t know I’ve never seen them before Magnus said.

“They are the brotherhood of war” announced the secret keeper. “They are rarely ever seen and usually are kept to their gun chapels and only ever called upon in times of great need.”

“What is their need now?” I asked as the ship seemed to spasm and a high pitched alarm began to sound on the ship. The officer of the high guild began to chatter away in binary into a device on the wrist and then shook her head. She then barked something at the secret keeper who then said something which I couldn’t hear to the three older Iron Sens and then turned back to the great gathering leaving us with the little thug that got a cheap shot on me earlier.

“Now what?” Magnus asked.

“We are under attack” the secret keeper admitted “apparently the system we are heading for is under attack by the Orks?”

Magnus, me and the young Iron Sans looked confused.

“The who?” we said in unison. To our surprise the member of the gild of secrets stopped and looked at and then moved on.

“They are foul xenos” he said “pests of the void”

“Why haven’t the armies of God-Emperor destroyed them then?” asked the young Iron Sans

“They’ve tried since the great crusades to do so” the secret keeper said with contempt “but there is always some forgotten corner of the galaxy that houses them and then they return.”

We reached one of the great docking bays that lead onto one of the massive storage crypts that made up most of the vessel. I stopped suddenly as a feeling of unease swept over me as though I knew what was going to happen and it was on the tip of my tongue.

“What?” Magnus asked. I shook my head and ignored the feeling.

“Nothing” I mumbled and moved on.

“Can we move it along” the young Iron Sens called behind the bulk of Magnus. Magnus turned and reared to challenge him but all he did was slowly and lazily lower his hand to his shock stick and we moved into the docking bay. Then that feeling of unease came back with a vengeance.

 

“Something’s going to happen” I said quietly

“What?” Magnus and the Iron Sens said together.

At that moment the High Guild officer and the member of the guild of secrets were getting to the door way when there was a violent shudder and the bulk head down the corridor opened up to the void.

 

It happened so quick one second they were standing recovering their balance from shaking and the next they were on their bellies flying towards the hole in the corridor. I didn’t see them go through the hole, I am grateful for that the machine spirits sensed the danger and quickly closed the door the exposed corridor and then there was a heavy thud followed by a white glow round the edge. It was all I could but to stare at the door at where two human beings, or mostly human beings had stood moments before and were now floating outside of the ship.

 

I was shook out of my reverie by two things firstly the ship lurched and shook violently again but it was different this time as we all heard a massive explosion and the twisting of metal as the ancient machine spirit of the ship protested and secondly I was quickly on the floor bent over double as I’d been hit in the stomach.

“Are you a witch?” the Iron Sens demanded.

“What?” was all I managed to splutter in my winded state.

“How did you know something was going to happen?”

“Were been attacked by foul xenos who until today I never even heard of.” I pointed out “as were currently been attacked something bad was bound to happen.”

There was another explosion.

“Tell me the truth” he snarled drawing out his shock stick.

“Now that the grownups are gone how about you give me that?” Magnus said with a smile but thanks to his missing eye and scar any time he smiles it tends to look quite sinister.

“You’ll have to take it from my cold dead hands” he snarled and then as the spirit within the stick started to awaken and hum angrily he brought it down diagonally on Magnus’s head. Magnus saw this and simply stepped back as the stick went through the air where his head had been a moment before and then stepped forward grabbed the wrist with the shock stick in and pushed on it so to trap the arm and distort his balance and then gave his a quick and painful jab to the nose. The Iron Sens let out a quick gasp of pain as blood started to pour out of his nose and then another gasp a moment later as Magnus twisted his wrist in such a was that made him drop the shock stick. I took out my bad temper on him with a swift kick to the back of his knees making fall and crack the back of his head on the deck.

 

He was dazed for a couple of moment but once his vision had focused he saw Magnus and me standing over him, Magnus was beating the club in palm in a sinister fashion.

“You’re dead.” He snarled “attacking an officer of the Iron Serenity is a crime punishable by death.”

“well the way things are going their isn’t going to be a ship for much long” I said. As I said that there was a series of low distant thuds then a grating followed by the sound of an explosion and then deathly silence that seemed to hang in the air like a cloak. The silence was ripped asunder after a couple of seconds with an in human cry of

“WAAAAAGH!!!!”

“Come on” Magnus said.

“Where we going?” I asked

“we got to find the guild master and do what the high guild ordered us to do and start the rites of war.”

“What about him?” I thumbed back at the Iron Sen on the ground glowering at us with contempt. Magnus looked to be thinking very hard.

“He’ll come with us” he decided and poked him with the deactivated shock stick “come on.” He poked him again. He just looked insolently at us. “I won’t ask again and next time I rouse the spirit.” Magnus warned.

The Iron Sans pulled a disgusted face and got up.

“What’s your name?” Magnus asked

“Argos” The Iron Sans said.

“Well Argos lets go find our guild master.”

“I thought you said you knew where he was.”

I let out at a hollow laugh.

“No one ever knows where she is, she constantly crawling round the ducts getting the malfunctioning servitors.”

I turned to Magnus.

“Where to?” I asked. He pulled a face thinking.

“We’ll try work chapel 3 as there is an Armourium on the way”

“sounds dangerously like a plan” I said.

 

We all walked into the storage crypt even if Argos was doing reluctantly. Though we didn’t know what was happening. All I knew was that a primal alien drumming was filling the ship and getting closer.