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Post by JLStewart (( Nightwatch )) on Jan 21, 2009 1:43:23 GMT -5
((Constructive criticism, acknowledgement and nice comments of this story are much appreciated))
It is the 41st Millenium. For more than a hundred centuries the Emperor has sat immobile on his Golden Throne of Earth. He is the master of mankind by the will of the gods, and master of a million worlds by the might of his inexhaustible armies. He is a rotting corpse writh invisibly with power from the Dark Age of Technology. He is the Carrion Lord of the Imperium for whom a thousand souls are sacrificed every day, so that he may never truly die.
Yet even in his deathless state, the Emperor continues his eternal vigilance. Mighty battlefleets cross the demon-infested miasma of the warp, the only true route between distant stars, their way lit by the Astronomican, the psychic manifestation of the Emperors will. Vast armies give battle in his name onuncounted worlds. Greatest among His soldiers are the Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines, bio-engineered super-warriors. Their comrades in arms are legion: the Imperial Guard and countless planetary defence forces, the ever vigilant Inquisition and the tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus to name only a few. But for all their multitudes they are barely enough to hold off the ever-present threat from aliens, heretics, mutants - and worse.
To be a man in such times is to be one amongst untold billions. It is to live in the cruellest snd most bloody rejime imaginable. These are the tales of those times. Forget the power of technology and science, for so much has been forgotten never to be re-learned. Forget the promise of progress and understanding for in the grim dark future there is only war. There is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and thelaughter of thirsting gods.
Shifting acid and storm clouds covered much of Dzereus surface, preventing the suns full gaze, from being seen from the ground. Most of the planets inhabitants had never actually seen their own blazing sun directly before. Only from a few locations on the planet could the star be seen, and even then it could be difficult. Acid clouds had sprung into occurence several centuries before when the planet was almost fully urbanized. It was unexpected, and as a result most of the city-planets buildings had to be refurbished. Large acid proof shields had been built above the cities buildings and on the many slanted rafters to block the rain from hitting the surface of the ground. Many now had worn away and corroded plasteel surfaces. Dzereus although a hive world was considered by many to be uncivilised being nearby the very heart of the warp, the Eye of Terror. It was only a few sectors away from Cadia. If that bulwark were to fall this planet too would inevitably be faced with hordes of daemons and Chaos Space Marines.
On the lower streets of the city Perseus III, a rusted door was pushed aside, as if it were a mere plushtoy. A man fell through open building doorway landing on his back. From the darkness of the room a man dressed in a drab grey military uniform exited. Only his face was still covered by the darkness of the room "Payment I want now! No excuses this time!"
"But... but sir!" Whimpered the man. "I have little money to give! My business has been slow! B-b-b-bu" The stern man snapped at him harshly "I said no excuses!" He made another kick at the man this time in his crotch. Another cry of agony went across the street. The man in the uniform stepped forwards revealing his rather disfigured acid worn face. A single large scar wandered down from his forehead to his nose and a small one went straigth through his right eye. He had a well developed muscle tone and was almost porcelain white. One long black moustache lined the area under his nose.
"I said no excuses and I can keep on saying it again time after time. I will let you off the hook for now... But you are to repay me in exactly a week with twenty percent interest. No exceptions. If you can do that for me..." He smirked slightly as if it was never going to happen "I might forgive you... And you may regain my trust. Remember that if your pay doesn't come in my head is on the line. And that means the same if not more for you."
The man turned off the street going around the corner and began to head out of the lower city of Perseus. The other scurried, finally picking himself up. His nose was bleeding and some area under his eye was bruised. Tears still flowed from his eyes as he tried his best to pick up the rusted and corroded door.
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Post by JLStewart (( Nightwatch )) on Jan 21, 2009 17:37:42 GMT -5
---Inquisitorial Data Pad, CLASSIFIED: Kappa Level---
Inquisitor Kolfgonrane, Ordo Malleus has need of you for a brief mission. This task shall be easy enough for any Ordo Malleus Inquisitor but our forces are currently stretched far to thin to complete this task. You are to go to the planet known as Dzereus located in the subsector Upper Zsill in the Zsill sector. Further it is in segmentum Obscurus. When you receive this message it will of been stored in your ships databank.
Now, for three years our Inquisitors have been finding evidence in planets around this one, that a well developed slave trade operates from here. Recently several people of great importance to the sector have disappeared on visits to this planet and haven't been contacted since. Now I need you to go to this planet and stop this trade from occuring.
We do have one man who has been operating undercover for the past few years in the area. You are to meet him in the Spaceport Upper Perseus III district. He knows your ship and has personally memorized it for when you arrive. Once you have memorized this erase it immediately.
Good luck Kolfgonrane, In the Emperors Name!
Kolfgonrane clicked a small green button erasing all the memory from the pad. Clicking another the data pad was ejected onto a small tray adjacent to the electronic equipment. He picked it up and quickly placed it in his pocket before turning down the corridor behind him.
Kolfgonrane was a Inquisitor of the Ordo Malleus, his skill normally leading him to missions deep into enemy territory. This one naturally, seemed like childs play in comparison.
Kolfgonrane although having well built muscles was rather lithe in comparison to most of the upper servants of the Emperor. His black hair was almost always in a mess as if he had just got out of bed. He didn't like cutting it though as he saw it as a waste of time when far more important things could be done. But that was when he travelled to demon infested planets. Now that he was travelling to a hive world it was best that his hair was trimmed at the very least.
His eyes were a hazel brown and green and his skin was olive in colour. Kolfgonrane finally reached the bridge of the ship. All around him several servitors who he had never spoken to directly all working on keeping the ship fully operational at all times. The ship was rather small in comparison to most others and was known as the "Skiff of Fury". It was almost like a sloop ship although it was able to go into direct combat and survive. The ship was agile and fast. Its ability to speed through space allowed it to outmaneuver almost any enemy however every risk and confrontation had to be calculated. If conflict were to risky the crew would then try their best to warp to safety.
"Set co-ordinates for... Dzereus immediately." All the servitors seemed almost oblivious to him and it seemed as though they were not following his instruction. But in barely ten seconds the Warp Drive was beginning to hum sending reverberations throughout the ship. In another sixty seconds the stars and space around the ship seemed to twist, warp, bend and stretch. An explosion of force ripped a hole directly into the very warp itself, the playground of chaos. The background around the ship glowed green, purple and blue. All the colours blending together and then changing into other colours as they progressed through.
"Good work..."
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Post by JLStewart (( Nightwatch )) on Jan 21, 2009 19:42:51 GMT -5
It had now been two weeks in the small cyropod spent sleeping. Two lights on the bottom hinges of the cyrochamber bleeped to life glowing a light yellow colour. Four clamps unscrewed, eventually releasing cold vapour into Kolfgonrane's private compartment. The time was almost upon him. The cool vapour eventually stopped flowing from the cyropod and the lid of the pod opened itself up.
Kolfgonrane suddenly awoke to a start with quick breaths before slowing to a more normal and consistent breathing rate. His pulse and body temperature beginning to normalize. He lifted himself up from the slanted pod and simply closed his eyes for a moment before setting off to his duties. His private quarters were rather spartan except for the small golden altar in the second room of his quarters.
After getting over the nausea he walked into the other room and bowed before the altar to the Emperor. Slowly he kneeled and began to cite a holy hymn in a quiet slow and deliberate voice. It was done to his best in High Gothic a language rarely ever used except by the most respected servants of the Emperor.
After two minutes of praying he stood up and exited the room. Before he had stepped into the cyropod he decided to change into a more appropriate attire so as to not be distinguished as a Inquisitor. He was dressed in a bland yellow and grey trousers and short sleeved t-shirt. He also wore a black leather jacket to protect himself if ever he were to stand in a open area on the planet. The datapad had already before detailed to him the environment on the planet and the possibility of getting rained on by acid.
The door to his quarters slid open by merely standing in front of it and he stepped out to the main corridor. He began to walk right down the corridor where he would soon go up several stairs to the signal node were messages could be sent and received by Astropath. He would then travel through a second corridor finally reaching the bridge.
Once he did eventually reach it the crew were about to cut back into the real world. "Warp engine is almost ready." The miasma of the warp was almost like an ocean. In fact it had currents, tidepools and to navigate it was psychotic for it always changed. Only one type of person in the Imperium could navigate it. Mutants known as Navigators. All of them looked like humans except for the occurence of a third eye known as a Warp Eye. It could find the way through the warp and it was never wrong. It was often said that to look into the eye of the warp was to look at the very stuff of chaos itself. Death was inevitable from looking into it so it had to be blindfolded always. Even while blindfolded these creatures could easily navigate through the utter chaos of the warp.
"Navigator Xerxes..." The Navigator in the center of the bridge nodded and Kolfgonrane continued "I was awakened... How much longer till we arrive?" "Only two minutes till we begin to make Planetfall sir." "Good." Suddenly the ship rocked as it hit a warp wave speeding towards it. Several members of the crew grabbed onto the plasteel hinges and nooks on the ship to prevent themselves from smashing the electronic equipment. "Its going to get rough... I see several more waves heading towards us. Get us out of the warp now."
One of the servitors quickly glided to the control panel. Half-man and half-machine. His legs were no a single plasteel plate put on four wheels. After a few moments the Warp engine hummed louder preparing to open a way back into the real world. "Grab onto something!" shouted the navigator as another wave of green, blue, red and pink chaotic energy rocked the ship again. Followed by another... and another... and another.
Suddenly another rocked the ship even more powerful than all the rest. The actual course of the ship was changed. "Damnit! A tiny bump in the course could take us out of our trajectory and potentially several weeks if we run into a tidepool..." The ship began to turn down but now in the distance Xerxes could see something forming. The very thing he wished did not happen.
A tidepool made of chaotic energy.
"Feth..." uttered Kolfgonrane as he stared at the glowing pink, purple and green anomaly. The ships destination was just beyond this chaotic mess and if they were sucked into it they could be lost forever. "Damnit, damnit, damnit! I am going to get us to go over it now!" Xerxes pulled on the controls tilting the ship upwards as they attempted to go over it. But the tidepool was at the same time trying its best to pull it downwards and as they got closer the tidepool got stronger.
"God Emperor, save us..." whispered Kolfgonrane and the ship was pulled towards the swirling disturbance in the warp. Luckily for them the servitor had done his job just in time. The warp engine all ready for re-entry to the materium. Suddenly the space in front of them exploded tearing a whole back into the real world. The Skiff glided through catapulted by the huge pressures of the tidepool beyond it. Real space merged with the immaterium for only a brief moment, sending warp energy into the real world, before it closed shut sending all the warp energy back towards the immaterium yet again.
"The Emperor, has indeed blessed us..."
((Some suggestions or comments are appreciated ;D))
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Post by JLStewart (( Nightwatch )) on Jan 22, 2009 19:05:48 GMT -5
Ahead of the ship through the viewing screen of the bridge the planet Dzereus could be seen. The planet was from space coloured in a light green hue with blue and grey strips and pieces of cloud mixed and blurred in. In comparison with most worlds it was rather depressing even for Kolfgonrane who had been to many of the overcrowded hive worlds.
Xerxes turned on his swivel chair and looked at Kolfgonrane. His middle warp eye, raised slightly above his normal eyes, covered by a silk bandanna. "It should be five minutes Kolf" he said smiling. Kolfgonrane nodded and turned back to his quarters. When he reached it he took out a pair of scissors from a draw and sat down in front of a mirror in his room.
He began to trim his hair down so he would not look like a barbarian in Dzereus although many people on the lower levels were very similar. Once cut he quickly scooped up the clippings putting it away in a small bin. Once done, he retrieved a chunk of bread and a few alien, green vegetables from another cabinet, he was hungry.
He sat down on a small chair in his quarters placing the food on a plate. The food was quickly chowed down, not even leaving behind a few crumbs. The two week sleep had left him hungry and famished. But all the side effects would soon pass. He then began to contemplate what exactly he would face on Dzereus and why he would be sent to merely find a slave trading ring? He hadn't even been told who had been abducted although he knew that several fairly important people had been found. But why couldn't another person do it? And how exactly did they know it was a slave trading ring rather than anything else? Was there something they weren't letting onto even him? While he was the one to go in?
Xerxes voice interjected on the voicecomm suddenly disrupting his thinking. "Entering the planets atmosphere in thirty seconds. Activating stabilizers now but be ready for the unexpected." Shudders echoed and reverberated throughout the ship knocking some off balance. Luckily all of the furnishings in all the private quarters had been welded onto the ship. Soon the shuddering metal stopped and the ship slowed its speed. In only four minutes the ship slowed to an almost complete halt stopping just above the acid clouds of Dzereus. The tallest spires of the uppermost buildings could now be seen as the ship made its way to the Perseus III spaceport.
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Xerxes as fast as he could opened the intercomm channel with Perseus spaceport.
"This is Xerxes of the Imperium I request permission to land in Perseus III Spaceport."
"What is your business in Dzereus? I cannot allow you to dock un-"
"That sir is classified. The only thing I can send to you is this locked document." Xerxes immediately sent the data slates overview to the spaceport administration. "As you can see it is classified. Kappa level. Nobody on this planet has permission to open it. Nor will you be able to."
Silence was all that answered Xerxes for a moment. He himself had not even read the slate but he knew that even with all its importance it was a rather small task for Kolfgonrane. He had not been issued a Kappa level task since... Since he was a mere acolyte.
"Uhh... Nevermind. You are allowed to dock on Perseus III Spaceport. Have a nice day..." The intercomm abruptly ended and Xerxes smiled. He liked having the power to scare people.
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The spaceport, was built ontop of a very large administratum buildings. It was also at the same time one of the only buildings built above the acid clouds. Kolfgonrane stood now at the bridge and adressed his crew "I will be going alone outside. Maintain the ship until my arrival." Once his small speech was done he quickly left the bridge going to the entrance of the ship which had been lowered for him.
He stepped out of the room and the first thing that he noticed was the lack of air in the rather spacious spaceport. The air here was relatively thin compared to most places but still breathable because several respirator generators had been build around the corners of the port. Several other ships were also docked. Freelancers, Trade Ships and even a small Planetary Defence ship.
One man in the crowds of moving people Kolfgonrane noticed was looking directly at him. Now he moved towards him and eventually got within only a few metres of him. "I know your business here. Your friends sent me here." "What friends?" Kolfgonrane simply replied.
The man stepped closer and his eyes Kolfgonrane could see were focused directly on his own. Both exchanging the same glance. "Your friends in Ordo... Malleus... I am your informant." Kolfgonrane nodded and both stood silent for a moment. "I shouldn't tell you here though..." He looked around behind and around him to make sure nobody was watching. "I'll take you to my place now."
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