Lost and Found (Warhammer 40k SI) Chapter 18: Xenos

Nicole POV

I look down at the bench where I have been working for the past week. My jump pack project wasn't finished and I had only my own hubris to bla. Integrating two very advanced and very different jump pack designs and then compacting my new variant while ensuring full neural compatibility has been a lot more difficult than expected.

I have been using my implants constantly. Running simulation after simulation for minute changes and alterations as I refine the final design. I can picture every single part of these jump packs in my sleep at this point, I think my implant might have continued running simulations while I slept.

The design for the normal sized individuals is done and scaling it up for larger individuals is trivial, however the one I want to make for myself is taking far longer. I want it to be compact enough to be able to wear it under my robes like a small backpack. Getting the wings and nanotubes to fold in on themselves without compromising stability and durability took days of work and hundreds of iterations.

I can co back to my jump pack project later. This afternoon is reserved for my adventure with Arianwyn. Who chose the closest of the three points of interest, the one a few decks under the dical bay as our target for inspection.

I pack up my personal tools and do what little I can to organize the ss I have made with all the parts on the craft table I have taken over. Keeping the various fasteners organized is a must.

The connectors which are supposed to link the jump pack to my potentia coil do remind I need to ask Master Doll about crafting personal power armor. Either Light Power Armor or the Dragon Scales variant would be my personal preference. Full or heavy power armor tends to be a bit clunky and asking for Artificer armor seems excessive. It's not a pressing issue since my customized carapace armor gives fantastic protection currently and any armor I make would need to be just as decked out and high quality.

I have one new piece of equipnt courtesy of nearly getting hit in the eye by a stray sliver of tal while trimming turbine blades for one of the jet engines. A pair of Blast Goggles to wear when I am working without a helt on. They have a strap in chanicus red and the brass holding the protective lenses in place is dotted with cog iconography.

I make sure to clean myself off and grab my three guns. The Archeotech Laspistol is slotted into my dendrite with a trickle charge power pack connected directly to . My Wrath-pattern plasma pistol on my hip, Archeotech Hellpistol in a holster on my belt. Three reloads both weapons in various belt pouches. I also have my compact power blade and my digital ring.

I have two brand new and empty solid core data repositories to copy any interesting data we might find, I regret not doing so for the visit to the Teleportarium. The devices were inspired by the data storage vault 82-Rahane left us. Only one of the repositories has a noosphere connection though.

I know Arianwyn is going to be in full armor so I planned ahead to match her with my hood down and my helt on. Now that I've had more ti with it, the systems in the visor don't obscure my vision as much as I thought.

I look at my escort. Delta-A3, two other Skitarii, Lael, and Brother Silverwalker. I take note that Brother Silverwalker has his heavy bolter and full devastator kit.

"Alright, let's go et Arianwyn." I tell them and get a series of quiet nods as they move to form up around .

We round the corner and find Arianwyn waiting near the door with her escort, a quartet of the house troopers in power armor and full regalia. Arianwyn is wearing her carapace armor and in my opinion it looks rather well tailored. It's emblazoned with various house colors and even a standard Mars-pattern Refractor field that has been cleverly built into the chestpiece.

"Arianwyn! Your armor looks lovely. I hope everything feels alright? Let know if not and we can make minor adjustnts. I know I had to tweak mine despite it being tailored specifically for ." I say as I walk up to her.

"Yes! It's great! It is a lot more comfortable than the basic set I had to wear before and it's a lot prettier! More features too! Hehe, I am ready, Princeps Nicole!" She tells her tone eager as I smile and nod.

"Well I don't really expect anything too exciting. We should have one more party mber joining us. Ah there!" I see a chnicus Servo Skull equipped with a pict recorder and a small manipulator arm floating over. Master Doll elected to send one this ti to get a look at the area imdiately should we run into anything interesting. The skull also serves as a secondary relay between the other Magi and our party.

"Master Doll, thank you for joining us remotely." I say giving a respectful nod.

"Proceed, Nicole, I am rely sending this as an observer. You can contact myself or the other Magi through this skull. Lady Arianwyn, Lord Drakios has been given access and may also tune in to observe." Doll informs her, through the vox I can hear the faint clangs and rumblings of his forge going strong in the background.

"Let's go! The first area my drones pinged is several decks directly below the dical bay." I inform our procession.

The guards must have hashed out a formation beforehand as Delta-A3 moves in front of us with his three Skitarii. The house guard take the flanks while Lael and Brother Silverwalker take our six.

The trip down is uneventful and I make small talk with Arianwyn and ask her about her equipnt.

"You probably know but this is a Hellpistol. I have six spare charge packs. I have this retractable forearm power blade and a combat boot knife!" Arianwyn says in a bubbly excited voice as she shows each item in question.

"I see you put a sight and had the grip adjusted on the Hellpistol too. A good choice." I complint as the lift slowly glides to a halt. "Alright a short twenty minute walk and we should get to the area my drones singled out."

We move quickly, most crew make way for a large group of ard and armored people. Especially when half of said people are in power armor and one is the impressive figure of a looming Astartes.

When we get to the area in question I imdiately notice why this area is likely unused. There are so rather thick doors blocking the egress to the section. When I open the outer door there is another identical door a few ters ahead that will not open when the door behind is open. A fact I have to coax from the machine spirit.

"This is a decontamination chamber." I tell everyone "My auspex shows there is a second chamber behind this next door. Make sure the seals are good on your armor. I'm going to close the door."

Only once everyone has given the all clear do I close the door.

I start the decontamination sequence and Arianwyn jumps as sprayers from all sides sterilize us with an aerosol of so sort. It takes a few minutes before the sensors are content, possibly due to the unclean state of the room itself.

The second set of chambers are much cleaner and obviously have not been touched in quite so ti. We move ahead and I can vaguely see things on the far side of this next door with my auspex.

"There is a cogitator terminal beyond this next door. I will interface with it once we get inside." This ti it's a liquid we get misted down with. It's also a different color but doesn't do anything besides clean us and leave our armor fully sterile and it rapidly dries.

The door finally hisses open with a faint cloud of vapor. The inside of the chamber is quite humid according to my sensors. I approach the console and slot in my dendrite data-spike.

Beyond the terminal is a large open space. The air has a slightly foul sll to it but is breathable. There are large circular pools filled with what looks like a bubbling sli interspaced evenly.

"Servo Skull 4H34D, contact Magos Gertrude." I tell the skull as it floats over towards .

"Yes, Nicole?" Gertrude's voice projects from the skull.

"Does the term 'Recovery Chambers' an anything to you?" I ask tactfully as I look up at the skull.

There is a long pause before she responds. "It does. What data are you seeing?"

"Recovery Chambers, Origin: Xenos, This component was harvested from a Xenos species expunged in the great crusade. The Magi at the ti tested and docunted the effects of these pools extensively." I state aloud for everyone's benefit.

"What do they do?" Arianwyn asks as she peeks over a railing at one of the pools.

"You subrge an individual inside them. If the data is to be believed these pools are apparently capable of healing virtually any known sapient lifeform from virtually any injury. The processes involved are not fully understood but the chambers do refill over ti by so unknown arcane chanism. When I say that they tested the pools extensively I an they threw hundreds if not thousands of people inside with different levels of injuries to test the effects. It even works on Astartes but states that it will not regrow implanted organs."

"I am on my way. We will secure the area imdiately." Gertrude states eagerly.

"I am on my way to inspect the data myself." Xor says from the skull a mont later.

"That is probably for the best, Master Xor. There is an additional chamber just above this one that this terminal is designating the 'Xenos Librarium'." I say as I look off to the side of the room where a series of ramps rest, inset into the walls slightly. Those can take us up to the chamber above.

"Moving to investigate!" I state excitedly waving everyone over to the ramp and start my ascent. Arianwyn quickly moves to follow along with our guards, Delta-A3 takes point and enters first sweeping the room before buzzing out an all clear.

The ascent to the chambers above is uneventful but there is another set of decontamination doors between the Recovery Chambers and the Xenos Librarium.

The library itself looks almost like a museum. There are books and scrolls piled along the walls and small pedestals holding Xenos objects and artifacts. I make straight for the closest terminal and slot in to examine the files within. The floating skull follows just behind .

"This is a compilation of data on the various Xenos species that were encountered during the crusade. Most of which were exterminated, but it also has a plethora of data on Orks, Eldar and a few other less known Xenos species." In the back of my mind I can practically feel an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor would be either seething or drooling at the very existence of this chamber.

I start to make a copy of the digital files by putting the data in one of the portable storage devices I brought with .

Arianwyn has gone to peruse the various artifacts. So have labels on the pedestals while others are blank. "Nicole, do you know what this is?" She asks, coaxing away from the terminal.

There is a small cyan vambrace with green highlights. It's clearly Eldar craftsmanship and a quick glance at the pedestal to read the descriptor confirms it. I let out a soft whistle. "That is an Eldar Forceshield, it's probably one of the strongest personal force fields you could have, even more than a Rosarius and it's all just in that little vambrace that you never need to charge. I reach across and pluck the device from its stand and examine it. "Want to try it on?" I ask Arianwyn playfully.

"What!? I an… kinda… can I?" Arianwyn looks curious but also hesitant.

"It's pretty similar to the belt you played with before. Besides, I don't think any of the objects will be staying here. They'll be moved to the vaults or destroyed. So you might as well" I say as I reach over and clip the vambrace over her armored forearm. It doesn't fit perfectly over the armor but it fits well enough.

"We have an Ork's Iron Gob, a few art objects from the Diasporex, garachnids and Interex. No Necron items this ti. Oooh that's a Jokaero digital weapon. A Digi-lta if the log is accurate." I pluck the ring up and toss it at a startled Arianwyn who nearly drops it.

"Nicole!? Why did you do that!?" Arianwyn whines.

"This room is about to get cordoned off and censured hard. We'll probably get kicked out once Xor and his guards get here. Might as well take a few of the safe items with us." I say boldly, getting so looks from the guards but the amused snort from Brother Silverwalker helps everyone relax.

"Oh, a Votann Tankard! Brother Silverwalker, you should grab this, they're extra durable." I say as I peruse the items presented inside the library.

"I am just going to yoink, I an secure, this Uluathi Plasma Siphon. Take the bolt of Nightweave Silk and the Fra'al Glass Knif-DO NOT TOUCH THAT" I yell with a hiss as one of Arianwyn's guards jerks their hand back. "Master Xor, we have a Halo Artifact present in the Xenos Librarium."

The servo skull floated over to look at the object perched on the pedestal and Xor spoke "Confird. Attention everyone, extricate yourselves from this chamber. There are dangerous artifacts of Xenos origin present. I do not care about the items you have 'secured', just ensure they are properly cleansed and logged later." Xor said sternly.

"Yes sir!" I snag my data repository on the way out and stuff it away in one of my pockets.

"Well… I think we are getting the boot out of this area and that didn't take long. Who wants to try a second location?" I ask, looking around at several incredulous guards and a slightly flustered Arianwyn who is trying to figure out where to store the extrely valuable Xenos items she has in her hands.

"I an… sure? Can we drop by the armory or sothing on the way?"

"Actually, yes, I think we can. Which area do you want to check out next? The big one is closer. It is still a ways from here on foot but only an hour of walking as opposed to… three. Oof is that really as close as we can get with the lifts?" I double check my map and then nod that is indeed what it says.

Arianwyn scoffs "The closer one obviously. We don't have ti for the other location. Maybe next week?"

I nod and we make our way back to the airlock decontamination chambers. As we enter the first airlock an entire horde of chanicus personnel including Magos Xor and Magos Gertrude are coming in from the other chamber. The Magi both give sidelong glances but make no move to stop or question as I hastily make my exit with Arianwyn. All they ask for is the data I gathered on the two rooms during the sterilization cycle which I turn over without hesitation.

—------------------------------------------------------------

Gronk looked pleased as he admired the veritable feast they had gathered to show the yellow blinky their faith and fervor. Many great rats had been felled in their holy war.

They now waited for the yellow blinky to decide if they had been worthy.

As the blinky flashed green they all cheered. "The green blinky has deed our offering worthy! Huzzah! Feast and rejoice!" they dove viscerally into their feast.

However as the feast was winding down the great Fu-se B-ox let out a sound of distress. One of the green solid lights was now blinking and as he approached he watched in horror as the green turned yellow.

"Oh no…" He looked at the sacred runes of the blinky but they had been worn away over the ages. Instead there was an arrow carved into the steel just next to it leading to a snowflake. "The frozen death!" he whispered, trembling.

Gronk went and dug out the ancient tal totem of his clan.

"Family! I must seek an overlord, I must warn them so the frozen death remains frozen! Lest the evil within spill free so sayeth the great ancestors!"

There were sounds of distress and whines of concern. Gronk shook his head and turned to his son Stonk. "Stonk if I fall in service to the Fu-se B-ox you must lead us. Do not despair, for though the red blinky cos the overlords may yet save us all!"

Gronk threw on his best cloth, grabbed his great rat slayer, donned his favorite hat and then disappeared into the dark steel labyrinth.

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I look up as we walk through the titanic corridor towards an absolutely absurd industrial sized door you could walk a warhound titan through without issue.

The lights in this industrial tunnel flicker and I frown as so of them suddenly go out as I power on the door controls.

"By the Omnissiah this door hasn't been opened in millenia!" I say with a shake of my head and start performing the rites to get the ancient gears moving.

The mont the door starts to shift and parts slightly there is a rush of air moving into the space beyond nearly knocking off my feet. It is almost like the room takes a deep breath before exhaling, what cos out as the door lumbers open further is a thick cold fog. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ noᴠelfire

"By the Omnissiah!" I whisper as Arianwyn gasps and then yelps "COLD!" The air is well below freezing. "I'm reading negative one hundred and sixty Celcius in the chamber beyond. That's after it sucked the warm air out of this tunnel. Is everyone's armor rated for cold?" I ask as I look around.

-160°C

So of the lights above flicker and die as the giant door finishes opening and the console also blinks out "Crap, I think we just blew a fuse sowhere."

Arianwyn gives a small shiver, she had the insulation seals on her armor turned off during the walk over to avoid any sweating "Yeah hold on I think I have a setting for cold." She fumbles but gets her suit properly insulated with a bit of help though her helt does fog up for a minute as a result.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"We are rated for such temperatures. Prolonged exposure is to be avoided." Delta-A3 informs in binaric.

I don't bother asking Brother Silverwalker and Lael nods "I'm good, full temp controls and sealed." Getting similar responses from Arianwyn's guards.

Ice crystals start to form on the floor and walls spreading out from the frozen foggy hellscape that the component had turned into.

The servo skull chis in as Master Doll takes note of the unusual phenona "There may be a ruptured liquid nitrogen repository or production facility sowhere inside."

Just when we all start moving closer one of the vents on the nearby wall rattles. Everyone stops and turns aiming guns as out tumbles one of the ugliest humanoids I may have ever seen.

It lands with a thump and then turns to look at the open door and lets out a wail loudly.

"Is that a ratling?" Arianwyn asks, her tone confused.

Her voice seed to shake the individual from his stupor and seeing the armored individuals pointing weapons at him he, I think it was a he, prostrates himself and babbles in rather garbled low gothic.

"Great overlords! Please! rcy! The great cold death must not be unsealed! I, Gronk, priest of the Fu-se B-ox, slayer of rats, beg you overlords!" He says without looking up at us.

"Uhhh, Gronk, was it? What can you tell us about this great cold death?" I ask politely.

"Is he wearing a boot on his head?" Arianwyn mutters, sounding incredulous and very confused.

"The great cold death was made by the ancestors to… to… stop the great hungering thing! So sayeth the ancestors!" Gronk trembles and shivers as the cold starts to reach his hairy fra but he remains fully prostrate and bowed.

"Well, unfortunately the doors can't close right now. I think the module has lost power. You can move away from the door while we investigate, okay?" I tell Gronk.

"You must hurry, great and powerful overlords! Or it will rouse from a cold sleep!" Gronk wls at us as he scoots like a worm away from the creeping ice on the floor dragging his forehead across the steel.

"Right. Let's go in, take a look around, try and restore power and go from there?" I suggest getting nods as people turn on their night vision settings. I check the thermal spectrum for a mont but it's not going to be useful, everything just looks cold in the room and ruins depth perception. So of us also either pull out glow lamps and turn on the lamps on their armor. The long beams sink into the fog but the light helps us pick out details on the various frozen objects through the layers of ice.

Arianwyn finally looks away and whispers "I have never seen a humanoid so filthy. Do people really live like that down here?"

"Wretches and stowaways lurk down here for generations, my lady. They do a bit of work as rat catchers and keep an eye out for mutants to help the Twist Catcher patrols. There's always a few that get missed as the ship is simply too large. We mostly let them be as long as they don't cause issues. Occasionally they find an old machine and worship it as a prophet or their savior." One of Arianwyn's guards explains with a sigh and a shake of their head.

I take a step onto the permafrost and it crunches under my boot. The cold air in the room feels heavy and all the vapor I exhale through my mask turns into snowflakes imdiately. Ice is trying to frost over the lenses of my helt. Without power the compartnt is a creepy level of dark and the fog keeps our lights from reaching very far.

-158°C

I can barely discern what's underneath all the ice with my auspex. As we make our way into the compartnt we pass a horrible frozen mound that I think used to be a loader crane of so sort.

"This is just a little creepy" I say trying to lighten the mood as our party moves forward at a walk. "I think this might have been a storage bay or perhaps so manner of ore processing? There are a lot of random rocks strewn about under the ice."

"What kind of compartnt needs such an intense freezer?" Arianwyn asks prudently.

"I'm not quite sure. The tal under the floor is warped and mangled so and not just from the cold but what looks like heavy impacts and violent shearing." I say as the stomp of Brother Silverwalker's boots echo strangely in the frozen wonderland.

-152°C

"I think I found the main power line. We can follow it to the primary junction and see if we can fix the power issue from there or if we need to venture further in." I state as I nudge the stiff frozen cable bundle with my boot knocking over so little ice stalagmites.

The sight lines are slowly improving as the temperature rises around us. The fog rising into the air towards the large expansive arched ceilings.

The route is by no ans linear. Slippery ramps coated in ice that our mag-boots struggle to maintain a grip on, we have to double back several tis where the route is fully blocked by massive chunks of solid ice or the walkways have been broken or collapsed. Dangerous looking pieces of ice break harmlessly on our layers of armor.

Lael nearly gets clipped by a falling icicle the size of a squat telephone pole at one point during the trek.

"Anyone see anything yet?" I ask after we spent almost half an hour tracing the path of the primary power cable. My map of the area is improving but I can't use the Sky Eye in an area this cold so it's only based on my auspex readings.

-123°C

"I sense a large object, possibly multiple large objects ahead" Brother Silverwalker states as we press on.

We co up to shipping crates strewn about in a tangled pile with no rhy or reason. I circle around and peek inside one that is missing the door. Nothing inside but frost however the container has three long parallel gashes on the edge of one door straight through the tal.

"That's a bit odd." I mutter as I try to get a closer look.

"Princeps, you should co take a look at this." one of the guards calls out, pulling away from the strange rends in the tal.

When I head towards the voice I co up on a large machine that seems to be the source of the cold if the pool of liquid nitrogen evaporating around it is any indication. The flow from the fully open spigot has slowed to a trickle without power.

The thing that sticks out the most on the machine is the primary control lever in the middle of the console is pulled down into the on position this is not unusual in itself. However, the preserved and frozen human arm still gripping the handle is rather striking. The arm ends in the middle of the bicep and despite being frosted over for ages the wound looks like it was extrely violent.

"Wait. If that's soone's arm… where's the rest of them?" I look around on the ground but there isn't any sign of the body within my auspex bubble.

"The console is dead, no power. Might as well close that valve for now." I say with a shrug. Brother Silverwalker steps through the frost to grab the large handle and barely manages to close it with an ear ringing screech of tal on tal. I don't think the poor machine would turn on again without extensive maintenance anyway.

"Let's go find the primary power node. Keep an eye out, sothing in here feels… off." I state as I shine the flashlight attached to my chatendril around.

-113°C

Navigating around the various frozen obstacles inside this strange wintery hellscape, it takes us another twenty minutes to finally find the right console.

"Give a few minutes. Delta-A3 can you co over here and help with this. There's way too much ice built up here." I crouch down next to the primary panel and have to smack at it to knock the inch thick layer of ice off the tal fra just to get to the primary interface port.

I finally manage to interface with the terminal and wince at the number of errors it flashes at . "What a ss" I grumble as I start reviewing the code and physically moving around under the panel, taking off parts to get to the frigid inner workings and fuss with the cables. At one point just my armored legs are sticking out from under the console. All while Delta-A3 and the other Skitari do their best to remove ice from the controls.

-104°C

"Aha! Finally!" I announce triumphantly when I get a positive response from the terminal and power starts to flow into it. The console hums softly and I extricate myself from under it to head to the main lever and push it forward. It moves with a hefty clunk and there is a pregnant pause before the lights inside start to flicker on one block at a ti. Half of them have been ruined by the cold but with the fog starting to clear up sowhat it helps give a sense of scale for the space. If walking for nearly an hour didn't tip us off the lights helped to confirm that this space is massive, almost like a hangar.

With the lights on it was imdiately clear that sothing had mangled the space. Towers that should have been straight were bent and twisted. Parts of the roof structure were bowed and buckled in places as though they had been hit by so large impact. A portion of the room looked like it was made from a different material and used a different pattern than the rest. A thick heavier fog continues to linger around the height of our knees.

The thing that really drew my attention was a large lumpy almost pebbled looking sphere the size of a warlord titan in height. It lood in the fog in nearly the dead center of the chamber surrounded by sheets of ice.

The sphere has caught everyone's attention, not just my own. I unhook myself from the now running generator station as the console warms up and continues to distribute power. Faint hisses and the thrum of machines kicking on from various locations can be heard in the distance.

"What is that?" I ask as I lift my auspex and try to get a reading.

"No idea." "Unknown." "Looks bizarre." Everyone answers in the negative. The servo skull follows as I get close enough to scan the huge object.

-100°C

I stop and cock my head slightly as the scan returns the first reading from my auspex. "Unknown biomass? What?" My first thought was that it could be an egg of so sort but I would need to get closer for a high resolution scan.

No one replies to my statent and I realize after a mont that everyone is currently standing behind and despite that I hear the strange sharp cracking of ice breaking and shifting directly ahead of .

I get within ten ters of the sphere, standing on a small tal balcony overlooking the fog filled depression the object is sitting in. I trigger a full powered ping from my Auspex and right away I hear the whisper of the Machine Spirit "Danger. Danger. Flee. Danger"

My implants montarily go into overdrive and the world outside slows as I study both what I can see with my eyes and the scan from my auspex. A clearer patch of ice lets spy that one of the bumps on the sphere is a bright blue shell the size of a torso with protrusions, attached to it via my auspex are six limbs. Four arms with three clawed hands and two legs and the shape I recognize imdiately. What chills to my core however is that the sphere is made of thousands of them and just at the limit of my auspex is a much larger figure buried in the center.

-99°C

In my accelerated perception of ti I hear another crackle in the ice and focus in that direction. My body floods with a combat fight or flight response as I watch one of the blue clawed limbs from one of the outer creatures twitch and slowly flex.

"Everyone. Run." I whisper as I co back down to normal speed.

There is a mont of silence as everyone processes what I just said. "Princeps?"

"I said everyone RUN! Ergency transmission! Hostile Xenos: Threat level Extremis!" I send out several imdiate ergency signals to Master doll, the Magi, Lord Drakios, and Captain Bolaar.

"Nicole!?" Master Doll replies imdiately in his no-nonsense tone "Clarify last remark!" Even as I start to run and the others quickly follow .

"Send the Astartes, the Skitarii, the guardsman! Everyone! We need to surround this compartnt NOW!" I scream into the vox.

"Princeps Nicole, explain yourself!" Lord Drakios demands as he joins the call.

"There are TYRANIDS onboard!" I yell back. Behind the crackling is getting more frequent. Ahead of us one of the small mounds shatters and a head and an arm pop out screeching for a mont, startling us. Brother Silverwalker responds first and puts a heavy bolt round through its skull less than a second later.

"We need to run faster" I hiss and one of the power armored guards scoops up Arianwyn and starts carrying her while they break into a power armor boosted sprint.

-95°C

"WHAT!?" Lord Drakios exclaims.

"Genstealers! Thousands of them! They have a Broodlord! Coloration matches Hive Fleet Ouroboris!" I send the auspex data I gathered to them all.

"How do you know… nevermind! We need containnt now!" Lord Drakios yells with a growl.

My ballistic chadendrite whips around behind and burns a hole straight through the eye socket and out the back of the bulbous skull of another rousing genestealer as we run past it.

"Can we seal the chamber?" Soone asks, I don't know who, my brain and processing power is focused on keeping my auspex running on active sensor sweep, running and shooting anything that moves and isn't friendly.

"Door broke when we opened it. Estimated repair ti is three hours. Estimated ti till the swarm is fully awake at the current rate of temperature acceleration is one hour."

"Venerable Baldos will be at your location in fifteen minutes" Captain Bollar states to my surprise. "We are mobilizing now!"

"We're sending Skitarii and portable defenses." Doll states and I get the ping as the ship is put on high alert.

"The guard has been notified, I believe the accessway is large enough for armor?" Lord Drakios asks.

I look around and realize with Arianwyn being carried I am now the one slowing everyone down. The Skitarii can run almost as fast as Brother Silverwalker who can probably outrun most cars.

"My apologies, Princeps" Brother Silverwalker says as he scoops up and drapes over his shoulder belly down facing behind him like a sack of rice. I let out a small yelp but otherwise keep quiet. "I forgive you, just go faster please."

I draw my Hellpistol and start taking well aid shots with it and my dendrite at the Xenos that start to rouse themselves, the number of which seems to be growing at a concerning rate. The sneaky Tyranids don't register as alive on my auspex until they start to wake up.

"Brother Silverwalker, enemy dead ahead!" I warn but Brother Silverwalker doesn't hesitate or slow down, instead he jumps slightly. His power armored boot pulps the Xenos's skull like an overripe lon against the steel floor as he lands before he continues without breaking stride.

"Three minutes six seconds to the entrance at our current velocity!" Delta-A3 states as he runs with long loping strides. His legs seem to have extended slightly and he slashes the head and arm off of a genestealer erging from under a frozen vehicle with his power sword.

"This is going to be a long three minutes."

-90°C

—---------------------------------------------------------------------

Venerable Baldos does not even try to hide his boisterous deep laughing as he gets the first notification.

"I told you brothers. The little Princeps always finds the most interesting things! A whole nest of Tyranids!" Baldos was already on the lift down to the deck Nicole was currently on. A few armsn who had been nearby had managed to squeeze in behind him. Not that he minded.

"We are only ten minutes behind you, Venerable." Was the grumpy reply from Brother Solantar.

"Ten minutes of uninterrupted slaughter just for ! I haven't fought Tyranids in… eight decades."

"Genestealers are more dangerous than the average bioform." Warned Brother Dragonmaw.

"Bah, you three just hurry up, and bring little Astrovias with you. This Broodlord creature is supposedly a psyker of so sort. We can see who gets the final blow to claim its filthy skull for the wall of honor!" Baldos resud his roaring laughter as he began charging thunderously down the hall for the main corridor the mont the lift doors opened.

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-80°C

Buried within the ball of living flesh that was used to insulate it from the biting environnt, the Broodlord stirs from it's long deep slumber. Flexing each stiff muscle group and tendon individually it hisses. The extensive cold has left damage that it imdiately seeks to repair as it's tabolism slowly rouses itself as the ambient temperature reaches more tolerable operational levels.

The rousing brood speak of new prey.

There is only HUNGER.

The hive must FEAST.