by Andy Hoare
In his darker moments, Lucian feared such days might never return to his line.
Sighing, Lucian selected a suit of armour. He anticipated no trouble on Sigma Q-77, yet as head of the Arcadius, he was expected, by centuries of tradition, to wear the hereditary symbol of his rank. A suit of power armour would suffice, one Lucian had worn many times, one whose war spirit knew him as well as he knew it. The individual parts of the armour were cumbersome, yet Lucian dressed himself, preferring the additional effort to the intrusion of a servitor or rating aiding him. As he pulled on the armoured gloves, flexing them to awaken the machine impulses, Lucian reflected on the suit's vintage. It had come into the dynasty during the time of Mathan Gerrit, known for his xenocidal crusade against the burgeoning Reek Exclaves, and still bore the scar from the encounter that killed its first owner. Lucian drew strength from the fact that he wore a suit in which an ancestor had met a violent death, knowing that, although Mathan sat at the right hand of the Emperor, some trace of his famously indomitable will remained, forever dwelling within his battle armour.
With his pistols at his belt, and his armour fully powered up, Lucian felt a familiar strength return to him. The armour was too heavy for a normal man to bear, relying instead on a complex array of fibre bundles to move its weight in response to its wearer's movements. Lucian found the effect emboldening, lending him strength and confidence as he strode out from the armoury, making his way along the central companionway towards the shuttle hangar.
The shuttle idled upon the armoured deck, the underlighting of the deck lights lending it a threatening aspect amidst the shadowed, cavernous bay. Fat cables snaked all around the shuttle as its systems were made ready for the coming flight, its reactor primed and its machine spirit fully awakened. A pair of heavy servitors and a power lifter plodded heavy-footed around the ship, loading external fuel tanks and cargo pods. The rear portion of the shuttle consisted of a modular component that could be swapped out, depending upon the nature of the shuttle's mission. This component was configured to transport Lucian himself and a small amount of cargo, and it awaited him in its lowered position, its open front accessible below the blunt prow and swept wings of the ship. He knew that both his children's shuttles would be configured in a like manner, and whilst he would have liked to have made the planetfall with one or both of them, they needed to maximise the amount of cargo they could carry back to the waiting vessels.
The pilot, Oria Kayle, stood waiting beneath the shuttle's wings. A tall man in his thirties, Kayle was the latest of a long line that had served the Arcadius faithfully for many centuries. Lucian's father had awarded the Orias the status of freeman for his part in saving the Oceanid from alien infiltration during the De-Norm Extermination. Oria's father had accepted the promotion in status, yet remained to serve the Arcadius, pledging his line willingly and proudly to voluntary service. Lucian was grateful he had, for the Kayles bred pilots without compare.
Kayle threw a smart salute as Lucian approached, the bundle of cables hanging loose from the left side of his forehead shaking as he did so.
'Is she ready, Oria? Lucian cast a professional eye over the shuttle, seeing for himself in an instant that she was.
'Yes my lord. All preparations are complete. Our flight plan is registered and we can launch as soon as you give the order'
'It'll be a rough drop. You're sure she's up to it? Lucian harboured no doubts regarding his pilot's skill or the preparations invested in the shuttle, but knew the risks of the landing they were about to undertake. The atmospheric conditions were appalling, and the data on the landing zone incomplete.
'My lord, if your order is to land upon the surface of Sigma Q-77, then this will happen. I pledge it upon my family's honour. You have my word.
Lucian nodded. He needed no more, for he knew the pilot's word was as good as his own. 'What are we hanging about here for then? He smiled. 'Let's go.
The storm-wracked skies of Sigma Q-77 filled the porthole at Lucian's side, the view shaking violently as the shuttle hurtled through the thin, upper atmosphere. Although compensated for by the shuttle's systems, the violence of the drop was notable. Lucian could feel the heat building up, his power armour's own mechanisms fighting to counter it.
Kayle's voice sounded in Lucian's ear, carried by the ships intercom yet crackling and distorted as if transmitted across light years of space. 'Passing through the ionosphere now, my lord. There appears to have been some recent solar activity, so I expect some plasma damage. Nothing we can't handle though. The Emperor protects.
'The Emperor protects. Lucian echoed. The shuttle bucked violently, throwing Lucian's head against the padded seatback. The shaking increased and the temperature rose noticeably. The upper atmosphere of Sigma Q-77 now completely filled the port, and Lucian could make out the patterns of the raging storm clouds, angry white, violet and grey. Mighty energy discharges arced across the skies, back lighting banks of clouds many hundreds of kilometres across.
The clouds loomed, and rose impossibly fast to swallow the shuttle. The viewing port was swamped, the clouds so dense that only the strobing lightning was visible. The shaking increased still further, made violent and jarring by the additional friction generated as the shuttle screamed through the high clouds.
Kayle's voice sounded once more. 'My lord, we're approaching a rough- He was cut off as the shuttle lurched upwards, only to plummet what felt to Lucian like several kilometres in the span of mere seconds. This was shaping up to be a rough drop, thought Lucian, perhaps as rough as the Kalpurnican Interface. He gritted his teem against a second lurch, and a further plunge that exceeded even the first.
Except this second drop in altitude brought the shuttle out below the cloud layer, and Lucian was afforded a view of the surface of Sigma Q-77. Under raging skies, a ground the colour of rust rushed up to meet them. Kayle adjusted the shuttle's vector, bringing them in on a slow, rounded dive that shed velocity startlingly fast. The shaking and vibrating abated, leaving the shuttle buffeted by high altitude winds, but otherwise unmolested.
Lucian loosened the harness that had kept him secure during the worst of the drop, and activated the intercom. 'My compliments, Oria, how are we looking?
Lucian could hear the relief as Kayle responded, the channel now clear of distortion. 'My thanks, my lord. That was… testing. No appreciable damage, but the vessel's war spirit is much displeased with its handling as we crossed into the troposphere. I fear I may be required to make contrition upon our return, my lord.
Lucian grinned wryly at Kayle's understatement. He knew the pilot would be ministering to the shuttle's machine spirit for many long hours upon their return, seeking its forgiveness for its mistreatment. 'Do what you must, Oria, but first get us back safely.
'Aye, sir, we approach the landing site now.
'Well enough, Mister Kayle. Bring us down'
The meteorospex readout informed Lucian that the atmosphere outside the shuttle was, as Luneberg's information had stated, breathable. It contained a high level of airborne hydrocarbons however, and Lucian took the precaution of inserting miniaturised filtration plugs into the back of his throat. These would allow him to breathe even if the atmosphere became dangerously toxic, although they would be of no use should oxygen levels drop below a breathable threshold.
Checking his auspex was operational and the coordinates for the meeting with Luneberg's contact locked in, Lucian activated the lock. The seal broke, and the ramp lowered, oxide dust blowing into the small compartment before the ramp was fully lowered.
The surface of Sigma Q-77 was every bit as inviting as it had appeared from orbit, and far above, deep purple and grey clouds trailed across the sky, livid violet lightning arcing between them. The ground was barren and cratered, deep oxide red, yet cast a ghostly hue by the lightning. A cold wind howled, its touch chilling Lucian's face and its shrieking filling his ears.
Although hostile, the terrain barely registered with Lucian, for he had visited scores of wo
rlds in his career, many far, far stranger and more inhospitable than Sigma Q-77. Over the millennia, the Arcadius had developed a sixth sense when it came to new worlds, an intuitive skill passed down from father to son, demonstrated rather than taught, felt rather than reasoned.
Every world had a feel. Whether you landed first upon arid equatorial desert, tropical island chain or frozen tundra, Lucian knew that each world had its own character, quite apart and distinct from mere terrain or weather. Some Lucian had visited felt welcoming, fecund, and ripe for exploitation. Others were instantly hostile, as if aware that the coming of strangers would change its fate forever. Lucian had read accounts of worlds that his ancestors swore blind manifested an actual, malefic intelligence, rejecting their presence with every asset at its disposal, from weather to flora and fauna.
Lucian paused before stepping out onto the dusty ground. The feel of this world immediately struck him: it felt… it felt wrong.
Rounding an outcropping of rock worn into a twisted archway by aeons of erosion, Lucian saw that Korvane and Brielle had arrived at the rendezvous point ahead of him. He was glad, for the planet had about it a deathly air, and every moment he had spent trudging through the dust towards the meeting point had seen him grow steadily more ill at ease.
Korvane was standing, scanning the horizon through magnoculars, while his sister sat on a rock some distance from him, her discomfort obvious. Both wore armoured bodysuits in the colours of the Arcadius, although neither was as ornate as that he himself wore as head of the family.
Brielle looked up, hearing her father's footsteps crunching towards them. She stood as Korvane turned and saw Lucian too.
The three having exchanged greetings, Lucian asked his offspring, 'What do you make of this world?
Korvane answered first, consulting his data-slate as he spoke. 'I'm surprised that Lord Luneberg's agents encountered natives here, Father. The archives make no mention of a colony here, and I can't imagine it harbouring autochthonic forms unless-
Brielle interrupted her brother. 'That's not the point' She visibly shivered as she looked out across the windblown expanses. Lucian felt the same chill, and it wasn't caused by the temperature.
Lucian addressed his daughter. 'What is it then, Brielle?
'I can't tell, Father, but something isn't right. There's something in the wind: echoes of something old.
Lucian held his daughter's gaze until she looked away, her dark eyes cast down. A thought formed in his mind, and fled before he could grasp it, as Korvane interjected. Well, nothing's showing up on the auspex, so I think it's safe to move off'
Brielle looked askance at Lucian before turning and stalking off. Lucian clapped his son on the shoulder. 'Let's go son, and keep a weather eye out' Korvane raised his auspex, but Lucian pushed it down again. 'An eye' He pointed at his own. Trust your own senses, son' As Brielle clearly trusted hers, Lucian thought.
Lucian and his offspring trudged across a barren, lifeless landscape, the wind steadily increasing until the dust it carried became so dense that visibility was reduced to ten metres and less. Twisted rock structures loomed from the dust, silhouetted as angry lightning illuminated the surroundings, and reminding Lucian of rearing slasher beasts. His feeling of discomfort had steadily increased as they had marched towards the site at which they would meet Luneberg's contact. He wondered about his daughter's reaction to her surroundings. Where he perceived the nature of the world as a spiritual chill, Brielle clearly interpreted it in an entirely different manner, speaking of voices whispering at the edge of hearing. Korvane, on the other hand, apparently felt nothing. He was either commendably steady of nerve, or stunningly insensate — Lucian could not, as yet, tell which. Either way, the boy was fated to inherit the mantle of the Arcadius, and Lucian would ensure that he did.
Lightning strobed, and thunder crashed an instant later. Korvane turned and shouted over the rising storm. 'Half a kilometre to go, Father, the meeting point is-
Before Lucian's son could finish the sentence, a dark shape detached itself from a nearby rock formation, dropping the three metres or so in the blink of an eye. Lucian saw this, but had no time to shout a warning before Korvane was bowled to the ground amidst a blur of thrashing alien appendages. Lucian drew his plasma pistol and charged forwards, reaching Korvane as his son thrust out his legs with enough force to propel the beast from him, its many-legged form crashing into the rock spire from which it had attacked. Having hit the rock, the creature dropped to the ground and tensed, ready to leap once more.
Lucian had never seen its like, for it appeared unnatural in physiology. A lumpy and misshaped body, a metre in diameter, sat at the centre of at least a dozen long, multi-jointed legs, each ending in a cluster of razor-sharp talons. A clutch of eyes scanned the scene before it, each focusing on a different target. In an instant, the beast focused its attentions on Brielle, who had arrived at the scene a moment after her father. It leapt through the air, propelling itself with a force that would surely decapitate anyone standing before it.
Brielle sidestepped the beast, allowing it to pass scant inches from her face. She raised her right hand and dropped to a kneeling position in one fluid motion. The beast hit the ground at the base of another rock spire and made to scuttle up it. A jet of blinding fame spouted from a miniature weapon on Brielle's wrist, leaping through the air to strike the rock. The flame splashed across the spot that the beast occupied at the instant it launched itself clear, yet it howled with ultrasonic rage as the jet caught it a glancing blow across its torso. A screaming, flaming comet of flailing claws, the creature arced through the air once more. It landed beside Korvane, who rolled aside as Lucian was finally able to draw a bead on it with his plasma pistol.
'Korvane, roll left! Lucian yelled, seeing that the beast would be upon his son in an instant if he did not intervene.
Korvane's armour had taken the brunt of the beast's attack on him, but he was stunned nonetheless. Despite this, he obeyed his father's order without question, flinging himself bodily against the rock spire.
Lucian fired, a ball of blinding plasma erupting from his pistol, to strike the flaming, squealing beast. The plasma bolt struck the creature's torso, causing it to explode in an eruption of smoking gore and razor-sharp limbs. One such limb, tipped with diamond-hard chitin, was propelled through the air to score a deep scar across Lucian's shoulder armour, causing him to give brief, but heartfelt thanks to the suit's war spirit.
Lucian lowered his smoking weapon, its vents shedding excess heat in hazy waves. He looked to Korvane, only to see that his son's eyes had focused upon something behind his shoulder.
Slowly, Lucian turned. Behind him stood a tall figure, features entirely concealed amidst long, flowing robes. How long had it stood there, he thought — had it been waiting the whole time, to see whether or not they would win out against the beast's attack?
A whispery voice emanated from the depths of the figure's hood. 'You are, I take it, the servants of the esteemed Lord Culpepper?
Wind howling outside, Lucian stood at the centre of a large cavern of obviously artificial construction, beside him Korvane, his wounds hastily dressed, and Brielle. Before him stood Luneberg's contact, and behind the tall, spindly figure, a pile of crates stacked to the cavern's roof.
Having appeared at the site of the alien beast's attack, the tall figure had spoken only to confirm Lucian's identity, apparently caring little for the fact that, as Lucian had explained, the rogue traders were not servants, but partners of Luneberg. Lucian had discerned what he took for a chuckle at this information, and the contact had merely stalked off into the storm with a gesture indicating that Lucian and his offspring should follow.
As Lucian had followed the figure, his feeling of discomfort had increased. The storm had closed in, until visibility was reduced to scant metres, they had nearly lost the contact several times, but always found him waiting patiently just around the next turn. They had been led along twisting pathways of rock spires, d
own which the wind echoed and wailed, only serving to increase Lucian's unease.
A glance at Brielle told Lucian that his daughter felt likewise, for her brow was furrowed and her eyes steely. Korvane, by contrast, appeared well at ease. Lucian knew that he took the situation for a formal contact between trading parties, and would proceed along such lines until fate determined otherwise. At moments like this, Lucian thought, Korvane had the right idea.
In short order, they had arrived at the entrance to the cave in which they now stood. Entering, Lucian had been greeted by the sight of the crates piled high. The contact now crossed to the nearest and activated a control set in its side. The crate floated up half a metre, to hover at waist height. Lucian concealed his surprise, for anti-gravitic technology was rare within the Imperium, and generally confined to small applications such as those generators found within servo-skulls or to far larger uses in starship construction. Lucian had never seen it manifested in such a utilitarian manner as to raise a simple cargo crate.
The robed figure activated a second control stud, and the crate's top lifted open with a slight hiss of escaping, pressurised air. A wisp of vapour rose and dissipated, as the contact reached into the crate to withdraw a metallic cylinder, which he proffered to Lucian as he bowed. Lucian took the object, his gaze lingering on the tall figure for a moment before he examined it.
The object was heavy and solid, with no obvious function that Lucian could discern. One end appeared to house some form of terminus, though just what type of machine it would interface with was beyond even Lucian. Turning the object over in his hands, Lucian saw that the other end was adorned with some form of script. Lucian's heart missed a beat, yet he remained dispassionate, handing the object back to the contact.