Thallaxia (ch 1)

[FattyLumpkin]

This is the chapter one teaser, updates and full story coming soon.  Also check out my other work for more context!

Thallaxia

Chapter 1

Flame was all around him.  The transport slammed into the ground at rapid speed, and the undercarriage began to peel away as they dragged.  Explosions rolled in series from the direction of the impact, before the ship caught on something, and began to tumble. 

On its third roll the ship came to a sharp halt, and Lukan became pinned in the wreckage.  He was wounded, something pierced his armor.  Fires grew around him.  He only felt the pain as he looked down to see it, a jagged pipe emerging from his chest at an upward angle.  His blood ran cold.  His automatic injector sensed the injury and released a powerful pain killer.  His thoughts swam through the red and dark and blood around him.  He needed to free himself before the fire consumed him.  The pipe wasn't that long, he could pull himself off and find a way out, he thought.

He tried to raise his arms, and they didn't move.  He tried to move his legs, and they didn't even twitch.  He was paralyzed.  The pipe must have severed his spine.  He could just barely still move his neck, enough to keep his throat clear so he could breathe.  He activated his emergency transponder via mental command that had been drilled into his psyche.  That's all he could do.  He couldn't even vox the rest of the Cell without his helmet.  He hoped the rest of his Cell survived.  He was in the belly of the transport, the worst place to be in this particular scenario.

Lukan hung by the pipe, jaw slack, drool mixed with blood running freely out of his mouth.  The smoke grew thicker and began to work its way into his throat.  He couldn't even cough to clear it, and felt it settle on his tongue, and coat his uvula.  He could still feel his limp body, through the painkillers.  He could feel the heat of the fire on every part of himself, threatening to melt his uniform to his skin.  His vision began to fade.  He let his consciousness fall into the deep, dark heat.  At least he was warm.  At least he was sedated as he died, and did not have to go screaming in agony.  He could retain some dignity, even if no one else would ever know.  He had survived more than so, so many.  He could die here with pride.

Lukan heard voices.  They sounded very far away.  He might have rejoiced to be found, were he not so certain of his demise.  Thank the Emperor that they survived, he told himself, as he closed his eyes.  He could not see any more, he need not spend the effort to keep them open.  He heard the shrieking of metal being torn apart, and fresh air flooded the wreckage.  The comparably cold air rushed at Lukan and into his wound, sending an agonizing chill through his body.  His throat and lungs began to spasm in response.  Ripping facsimiles of coughs ripped out of his chest, worsening his wound and sending blood flying out of his mouth with every horrible exhalation. 

His eyes flicked open and saw the shape of an Astartes in front of him.  Brother Decimus.  His helmet was flashing with multicolored lights, and sweeping sensors.  He was analyzing the severity of Lukan’s wounds.  The lights snapped off and the marines deep vox grilled voice boomed

“You will live.”  Was all he said, before stabbing him with an injection, and pulling Lukan off of the pipe.

The pain from the sudden movement was so agonizing that Lukan lost consciousness for a span of time.  When he came to again he saw the sky above him, and could breath clean air.  He was on the ground.  He saw Decimus above him, holding a piece of hinged wreckage aloft.

“Hide.”  Decimus said, and slammed the transport door closed over him.

“Salvation will find you.”  Lukan heard him say from the other side.  And then;

“We bring the fight to them!  Advance with extreme prejudice!”

He felt the marines' footsteps pound into the earth as he ran away, and the sound of gunfire faded, leaving Lukan alone, in the dark.  He wasn't in pain any more, not really.  He could feel the injection Decimus jabbed him with working, coagulating the ragged ends of veins in his wound.  He could feel his entire body, so abused and beaten and riddled with drugs, every inch of him was alive with tingling sensation.

Lukan attempted to stretch his over exerted muscles, and a dread cold as ice water seeped into his gut.  He had managed to forget that he was paralyzed.  The inability to move even an inch sent him into a claustrophobic anxiety attack.  His thoughts began to race faster than he could understand them.  His brain honed in on the strained muscles that were set to burning from staying in one position too long.  The sensation overwhelmed him.  Noises began to emanate from his throat and Lukan realized that, if he tried, he could still scream.  And so he screamed.  Decimus told him to hide, but scream was all he could do, and he did so until he lost consciousness again.

He woke in darkness.  He had no way of telling how long he was out for, and after only seconds the panic began again.  Whatever muscles he was still able to manipulate into a scream were now failing.  Lukan attempted to master the panic.  He was a member of the Vigilia.  He was chosen because he is a survivor.  Brother Decimus Batur is his bonded Astartes, and great friend.  He has been serving with him for the better part of ten years.  The recitation of facts calmed him.  When his thoughts strayed to his broken body, he started from the beginning.  I am a soldier of the Malum Vigilia.  I am a survivor.  Brother Decimus Batur is my bonded Astartes, and great friend. 

Lukan’s mind slipped into darkness again, but the facts repeated in his mind as he rested.  He could no longer tell when he was awake or asleep until he woke, and he was somewhere else.  There were voices around him.  He was being moved.  He was staring up at the steel ceiling of a voidship, or more particularly, the docking bay where two ships were connected.  He could not move his head, or open his mouth to try to speak, as he was held in place by fittings on the gurney.  After a few seconds, the movement stopped, and Lukan heard a woman’s voice,

“Releasing patient for transport to the local Ordo Reductor facility.” it said.

What?  No.  No he hadn't heard that right.

+Thank you doctor.  We will take him from here.+

Why were there tech priests?  Oh throne.  No.  Emperor no. 

They were going to put him in the Lorica.

He could see only the ceiling as he began to move again.  Lukan’s mind was peculiarly silent.  They were going to put him in the Lorica.  The stories all came rushing back to him.  The omens of the tech priest that he had promised his body too long ago, in the event its ceasing to function.  Lukan found himself wishing to stay the way he was before allowing this.  He wished he had died on the pipe, in the fire. 

His eyes recovered from their sightless glaze and Lukan saw one of the tech priests stepping to the side, closing a chamber door.  He was in a stasis chamber.  He tried to scream as the room began to fill with cold smoke.  He craned his eyes to the side to meet the tech priests, hoping to plead for mercy, but saw none in its cold robotic voids.

A second later the door opened again, and Lukan was still trying to scream.  He was brought out of the chamber quickly and through a massive open ship's bay.  Large medical lights came into view above him, along with servo skulls with blinking red recording lights.  Then he came below a terrifying conglomeration of long metal arms with various cutting, drilling and welding attachments. 

Moments later he heard a tech priests start what sounded like a medical journal

+This is Magos Vhal Ternak of the Ordo Reductor.  Subject has presented with catastrophic lower cervical cord destruction and complete paralyzation.  Limbs have succumbed to various wounds and have lost any viability upon arrival.  I will now begin the transfer of the patient to his chosen Lorica Thallax chassis.+

Lukan heard a console beeping next to him, and he felt a liquid being released from somewhere.  There was an IV in his arm, he didn't even notice it being put in.  In an instant the painkillers stalled in his system during the stasis transit were canceled out, and Lukan felt all of his wounds.

The tech priest long ago had told him that in this eventuality, he would need to remain conscious, and his nerves un sedated, in order to ensure their proper placement within their new host.

Lukan saw the face of the operating tech priest come into view above him.  I am a soldier of the Malum Vigilia, he told himself.  I am a survivor, he told himself, as the tech priest began the process of removing him from his body.

Edited 8 hours ago by FattyLumpkin