Mythoclast: Saving the Universe

[X9Killbot]

AN: Some reviews on different platforms brought attention to the many errors we have done during the making of the last story, such as introducing too many characters too soon and not giving backstories. Now, we're doing it from the ground up, with some changes, both in characters and planned timeline.

Click to shrink...

There are many worlds like this, stories spread upon this universe scattered like dust to the wind, this is the story of 'heroes'. People from various places banding under a single banner against the encroaching darkness from every corner of the eyes.

One comes from the ancient time, the first war of the universe that was waged upon the heavens, others come from the time of humanity both past and golden age, some come from the time where the greatest species fell to debauchery and birthed the 4th god of chaos, last are the children of the imperium brought forth to the unlikely fellowship.

This is a story of 'us'. We who march under the banner of an impossible task at hand, to salvage the future and timeline, to bring hope against the tide's chaos.

We are not heroes, none of us are saints.

We are merely salvagers of this timeline.
​

Arc 1 Ark of the Forgotten
Chapter 1 Cold Beginning, Unwelcome Reception by Lord of Crucible Shaxx

The last 5% of the boss's health remains.

Hello everyone. My name is Jack and I'm currently teaching a group of FF XVI newbies the copied factory raid. It's been over two hours of trying to beat this whole thing. Guess that's just my luck.

My favorite music keeps blasting through the speakers as the boss's health drops to 3%. Teaching new players raids is a really time-consuming activity... But knowing that, it's a great feeling once you do it, because one day, they may teach others.

2%. Mechanics already done and it's a homestretch. The raid is finally coming to a close. It's already late, but I'll see it through.

0%. 9s lies defeated and the alliance cheers on the discord.

"Man, that was difficult."

"No, it wasn't. You were just adamant to not spoil the experience by watching guides"

"To each their own, I guess"

With a tired smile, we begin rolling for the last bits of loot. I roll for the last piece of gear missing from my collection and to my surprise, roll a 96.

"Hey, dude! I wanted the pod! I rolled 95, what the hell?"

I snort lightly: "Well, I rolled a 96 and it's the last item I'm missing from the full collection. It's mine now!"

With the group laughing in the background, we say our goodbyes, people leaving the alliance and the discord channels."

"Hey, Fourties?" Goddamnit. Told them to call me by my actual name, not the name of my character "Can I count on you to run this again next week?"

With a sigh, I reply "Sure can, add me to your list, see you later. I'm going to sleep"

"Thank you so much!"

Full collection complete. Other than teaching and some materials, I have no reason to keep running this anymore. The curse of a completionist I guess. Sitting down on my bed I look at the clock. 2 am. It's going to be an interesting day at work tomorrow, that's for sure. Closing my eyes I begin to drift off.

...

I wake up, but not in my home.

Lazily looking around I take in my surroundings. The room I'm in is spacious. There is some furniture, including a bed, but I'm lying on the floor facing a doorway ahead of me. The window behind me is obscured by a wall of metal for some reason. Slowly picking myself up, I begin to think. Unfamiliar location, no idea where and my body feels extremely heavy for some reason. Was I drugged and thrown in here? Standing up I look myself over. I have never owned such... extravagant clothes. A form-fitting jacket, expensive-looking black boots, my hands are in gloves... And I appear much thinner than I was before. Something doesn't add up. As I approach the door, it opens automatically, showing a corridor beyond. The situation is getting really confusing. Where am I, in some sort of simulation? The corridor stretches in both directions. As I leave the room of my awakening, I turn around to take one last look at it. At the first glance, it appears normal... just very white. But what catches my attention, is a name plaque on the left side of the door.

"42-s"

What. the. hell? That's my character's name!

Realization slowly begins to creep into my mind. I start sprinting down the hallway. I pass more rooms, but these ones are already open. "11-s", "4-s", "32-s","801-s"... I halt and gaze inside at "9-s". The room looks exactly like mine, but this time I see something that appears like another corridor behind the window. I don't think I'll be able to break that glass anytime soon.

My journey eventually reaches an elevator. I can see from the distance that the corridor keeps going forward. A short decision later, I step inside it. Making a mental map of the place, I look around the lift. I press the highest button and it begins to ascend. Looking behind me, I am met with a reflective surface of the doors. I halt the process, so I can get a good look at myself in them. Expensive clothes that are likely worth more than my monthly paycheck? Blonde hair, when I previously had brown? Check and check. The final nail in the coffin, however, was the blindfold over my eyes I haven't realized was there. With shaky hands, I reach behind my hand and undo it. I am met with a pair of bright, blue eyes.

I slump over the backside wall of the elevator. This does explain why I feel heavier than usual. I'm literally made of metal... Somehow, I was turned into an android overnight. I barely start up the elevator again. I feel like I'm about to fall over. The doors open at the top floor and I take a shaky step forward, only to fall and let the darkness overcome my vision.

Once my consciousness returns, I get up again and start going forward. No matter my current state, I need to find out everything -...

There is an android corpse in front of me. Not just any YoRHa android (I'm a scanner type android from Nier: Automata), but an operator. Unmistakable blonde hair in that peculiar hairstyle, a face mask, and a skin-tight suit over the defined female body. Now that my memory fully restarted I realize WHERE and WHEN I am. My walk accelerates to a full sprint, as I pass multiple bodies on my way, eventually reaching a much larger door. Upon entering I'm greeted with the YoRHa command center. Error messages across every screen, A mass of operator bodies on the floor, together with a lot of armoured androids, also lying around. I slowly walk downstairs. As I approach the downed units, one operator begins to twitch. Running close to her, my instincts scream to help her, but my efforts are met with a fist to my face as I fly at a wall. The eerie, red eyes of the half-broken operator shine brightly in contrast to the white environment.

I'm not going to die. The damage suffered by her will make her much slower than me. But I can't let her run around unchecked. Picking up a YoRHa spear off of one of the battle types, I charge at her and impale her on the tip. The red eyes dim and shut down completely, leaving me alone again, as the only being alive aboard the bunker...

Aboard a YoRHa bunker, as a scanner type, alone, post logic virus, in god knows where. I'm in deep trouble.

I look at the weapon, still lodged in the operator, With a pull, I remove it from her torso.

I need to get out of here and fast.

But here appears another problem. If she got reactivated somehow, perhaps she won't be the only one.

And so, I began the morbid task of stabbing every single body I came across, to ensure that they were really dead.

The task of checking them took longer than expected. Mainly because there were more bodies slumped over the walls. Two more operator units were activated, but I eliminated them smoothly, without getting hurt in the process. Luckily, none of the battlers were active. With the room now secured I need to take control of the bunker somehow. At least I'm in the right spot.

One of the few terminals still active was unlocked. It provided me with some general information about the place. It detected 5 black boxes still active (more infected) in the lower levels, the power was still on because solar panels had something to charge off from, and if the sensors were to be believed, the bunker had crashed into something. Most likely the thing I saw through 9s' window.

I was able to cut off access from some floors, including the hangar and multiple living quarter floors. Few places remained out of my access, but mostly because they got wrecked by whatever the bunker crashed into. The other was the storage on the right. I am safe for now.

With that said, I can't survive long on my own. Leaving the command room, I make my way towards 9s quarters. With the spear, I should be able to break the glass and have access to whatever lies beyond. So, with a determined face, I enter the lift again and return to the previous floor, weapon in hand. I know for sure there are 4 more infected somewhere since I also count black box signals, but now I'm ready to fight back.

Entering the room and closing the door behind me for safety I begin to strike the reinforced glass with my tool. A scanner's body isn't built for combat, but eventually, the glass cracks and a wave of cold air hits me right in the face. At least there is air on the other side. I continue breaking more of the glass to make a hole large enough to go through. A few seconds later I vault over the opened space, into the unknown. The path ahead of me goes straight ahead, seemingly without end in sight. Picking up the pace, I begin my walk forward, checking out the corridor for potential dangers or rooms to check out.

After a minute or two of walking around, I find something resembling a door. It doesn't budge at all. It's reinforced, and my spear isn't a weapon designed for breaking heavy stuff like this. Seemingly out of options, I sit by a wall and start to think of a way to pass this obstacle ahead. The bodies in the command didn't have any weapons for this purpose either. Think, you're a Scanner now, thinking is what you do best... scanner... as a scanner, I should have hacking capabilities. Standing up I look over the door again. There appears to be some opening mechanism at the top, but what grabs my attention is a terminal with an image of a lock. Now, smiling lightly I push my hand forward, much like 9s did whenever he hacks something and... nothing. Not deterred in the slightest, I try again and again without any results. My smile turns sour as yet another attempt at activating the hacking function fails.

"Hack it, you senseless limb, or I'll cut you off and replace you!" My vocal threat does nothing to activate this function, and my enthusiasm has died completely.

"Fuck you, door." I say as I slam my fist against the terminal. And suddenly my vision goes white.

When I come back to my senses, my consciousness is contained within some sort of triangular vessel. Happiness returns to me. I can hack stuff now! Figuring out how to move and fire took a bit, but now I'm moving with a purpose, looking for anything that can grant me access to the door controls. I finally reach a panel of sorts, which firewalls I proceed to break into and reach my prize. Switching the control on, I am pulled back into my body.

The access panel is now showing the picture of an open lock and the door slowly activates.

With a smile on my face, I enter the now unlocked section. The room I find myself in is spacious. It appears to be some sort of a storage facility since I see multiple crates. Fortunately, they don't obscure any doorways. Taking a quick look behind me, I notice just how small the door I came through is compared to everything else. I must have entered through some maintenance corridors. As I head towards the door ahead of me, I begin to wonder about what is ahead. It's either a spaceship, or space station, either suggests some sort of occupants and considering the lights are on, I may come across them soon... I hope they'll be friendly.

I try hacking the door again, this time from a distance, repeating the same movement as I did last time. I'm getting better at this. As it opens, I face another corridor. I take my first confident steps and... the lights turn red, alert starts blasting, and from the corner of my vision, I see something activating on a far wall. Ducking back into the room I came from, I quickly peek at my potential adversary. An automated turret with two, very big guns on it. the turret is now slowly moving back and forth, scanning the corridor. At this point, my life depends on whether I can eliminate it, so I'm left with no choice. As the turret field of vision passes over my location, I jump out and begin the hacking procedure.

The biggest challenge yet. The firewall of the turret took a long while to break through, It's defensive measures taking few strikes at me. Eventually, it's disabled and I can leave my safety corner for now.

My success doesn't last long, as I suddenly hear the sound of something heading my way. It's either moving very fast or is very heavy. I take a few cautious steps back, behind the door I came from, and watch from the door frame as IT arrives. A large metallic figure with mechanical tendrils is currently investigating the disabled turret. Its long body stretches behind the corner, leaving me unable to see its full size. Without a way to reliably escape it, I reconnect with the turret it's working on.

Reactivating it and changing its targeting system was surprisingly quick without a firewall protecting it. I watch from the door as the entity takes a confused step back as a turret reactivates. I stifle a laugh as the turret proceeds to fire at the robot. I am left in shock as it obliterates the turret with a single strike. It then turns to face me. At least the impact had some effect as a chunk of its head armor is missing. I take my chance at hacking the thing, but the much superior firewalls push me out almost instantly. The moment I return to my form, I sidestep back and run back the way I came. The unholy metallic screeching follows me into the maintenance corridor, as I reach a safe zone.

Turning back, I see it's tendrils searching for me. Grabbing the weapon firmly, I use it like a halberd and strike at one of them near the floor. To my immediate surprise, the appendage is cut and the machine retreats for a moment, only to restart its search with more vigor. It likely doesn't know my weapon of choice, as I proceed to remove two more tendrils with a single strike. Its angry screeches are getting louder, but now, I know that it isn't invincible. The moment the tendrils return, jump in front of them and stab my spear in the unexpecting face of the machine, striking its vital systems. To my shock, it still works after the fact, so I let go of the weapon and hide. I can hear it's screeching for a while longer until I hear a loud thud on the floor.

Cautiously, I leave the safety of the corridor and see the mechanical monstrosity disabled completely. When it tried to remove the weapon, it must have dug it deeper into its systems... I'll take it. Removing it took a fair amount of time, but it's back in my hands and I can continue... Not that I want to again, considering the security so far. My train of thought is interrupted, as the door I came through is closed. Trying to hack it again yields no results. I hide behind one of the crates and start peeking at the still open corridor ahead. I can see some form moving ahead. At this point, my life depends on if I can take it down, whatever it is. It finally turns around the corner... It's rather good looking... for a machine, that is. Cyan-White coloration, feminine shape, and a pair of back protrusions, likely some sort of propulsion system. It enters the storage room and quickly notices the downed entity.

"Oh goodness, it did THIS to a keeper?" Its very feminine voice said.

"It speaks?" I whisper to myself nearly silently. Unfortunately, the new machine must have heard me, as it quickly turned around, lunged, grabbed me by my torso, and lifted me up with one arm, on the other an energy blade appeared, ready to gut me like an animal.

"Did THIS do it? How did you defeat a keeper!?" The, now defined, 'female' demanded.

"It attacked me so I stabbed it in the head and then it tried to remove it?" I replied quickly "Please miss, I don't want to die!"

We stood there for a solid minute.

"What are you" She finally asks, with much less malice in her voice.

"I'm an android! I woke up some time ago and my wandering led me here!" Please accept this, I'm not ready to...

She slowly lowered me to the ground, grabbing my weapon with her other hand and leaving me defenseless at her mercy.

"If you do not want to die, you're going to do everything I say"

"Ok! I didn't want to fight anyway, just wanted to talk!"

"I will be the judge of that."

So, this is how I'm going to die. Unable to defend myself, without any chance of rescue...

"I need some help. And you, little one, are going to provide it."

I look at her with wide eyes. "What... what can I do?"

"I assume you are capable of hacking systems, yes? Well, you'll need to reactivate my ship. The hulk we have crashed into damaged many systems."

"What hulk?" This doesn't sound good if it is what I think it is...

"A space hulk. We don't necessarily know what ships are a part of it, but once you help me reactivate the systems, you'll be responsible for its exploration."

"Please let it not be 40k, please let it not be 40k..." I begin to repeat to myself.

"Of course, should you find something dangerous, like an ork krooza with an intact crew, you are to report back." My hope has officially died.

"Oh fuck, I'm in Warhammer 40000"

"It's technically the millennium thirty..."

We look at each other again, this time in mutual shock.

"You're not from around here, aren't you," she asks me with a tone that won't take any bullshit.

...

Meanwhile, within the lower levels of the bunker, a group of three androids with glowing red eyes began to move out, heading for emergency stairs, only to cross through a breach point into another place, with a long way to go. They begin to slowly walk forward, weapons are drawn, leaving behind a slumped over, a blonde android with white clothing. Unheard by anyone was the message her system kept on repeating in low voice: "Virus infection halted at 73%. Recovery possible"

 

[X9Killbot]

A list of authors and their characters. We will add more as they come up.

Lord of Crucible Shaxx
42S "Forties"
42S is the android that Shaxx found himself inhabiting. His appearance is that of a young boy with blonde hair. He wears a standard YoRHa outfit, consisting of heavy boots, shorts, a long-sleeved jacket, and gloves, all black with gold accents. In most situations, he is also wearing a blindfold, in reality, a visor that both protects his blue eyes and enhances his vision. His current equipment consists of a YoRHa type-40 spear and the typical hacking abilities of a scanner type android

Fate Weaver
MDS-017 "Zenith"
MDS-017 is the body of a Dark Age [REDACTED], which Fate found himself controlling, even before [REDACTED]. Standing proud at over [REDACTED], he is a living manifestation of mankind's past glory, armed with weaponry unmatched in raw power amongst the entirety of the [REDACTED], he stands against time and the forces that be as an endless reminder.

 

[X9Killbot]

Arc 1 Ark of the Forgotten
Chapter 2 Bare Minimum of Trust by Lord of Crucible Shaxx

42S PoV:

It has been ten minutes since I came across my new... 'Companion', or rather since she decided to interrogate me. At first, I assumed she was in the same situation as me, but as it turns out, she is a native of this reality. And all my attempts to find out how she is aware of the situation resulted in failure.

And this brings me to now. I am being escorted by a pair of the same sentry machines, known as keepers, with the paradoxical woman right behind me. Apparently, my job now is to restart the ship completely and if I don't give her any reason to eliminate me, I'll be allowed to go... for a time. Since we're both stuck in a Space Hulk of some sort together and we're the only ones (as far as we know) that are reasonably peaceful and willing to cooperate.

"Hey uh... miss robot? Could you tell me your name? I'd rather not have to keep calling you 'robot woman' and variations of it." It might have been a bit brave move, but it's honestly annoying not knowing the name of...

"My name is Anubis. Better make sure you remember it." Her voice is clearly unamused. "Common courtesy suggests you introduce yourself too."

"Jac... 42S! But, please call me Fourties. Easier on the tongue." Since I'm in an entirely new situation, I don't think my actual name remains appropriate.

"I don't have a tongue." Was her short response.

We walked in silence for a few more minutes. This wasn't how I imagined the first meeting with another sentient to go.

"H-hey? Could you tell me something about those... keepers, you called them?"

"No. And we won't talk about them anytime soon, because we're here." The escort halted in front of a door, which turned out to be an elevator. I stepped inside, with her right behind me, not leaving me out of her sight for even a second. She's still holding my spear and truth be told, it makes me very uncomfortable.

"What am I going to be doing here?" I ask. "I know how to hack, but if she expects me to fix some of her terminals, then I'm definitely not the right man, or in this case android for the job.

"The systems have been... uncooperative, even before me and my companion were forced into stasis." Who is her companion? "I don't believe you are capable of helping me fix him anytime soon, but what you can do, is fix the controls."

"I can work with systems, I don't think I can do anything about..." I start

"The consoles and terminals are active, it's that they are unresponsive. Since you've shown yourself capable of breaking into the virtual space of this ship system, you should be capable of fixing whatever is inhibiting my access." Well, that is good news for me.

The doors open and I get my first look at the bridge. It definitely is made for function, not form. Single main control point, likely responsible for total control over the ship. Anubis quickly steps into that location, I think to ensure that I don't try anything I'm not supposed to.

Ignoring her icy stare, I focus on one of the consoles near me. Pointing my fist outward I initiate hacking. I prepare myself mentally as my consciousness enters the virtual space.

I don't really have words to describe the experience of hacking, but It's really pleasant when you're not being shot at by firewalls that are actively trying to eliminate you. My work right now consists of breaking everything slowing the system down and boy, there surprisingly much.

As I breakthrough yet another virtual barrier I come across a large grouping of pathways. Checking one of them, I accidentally access the file residing within. Nothing terribly important, but it does date to roughly late millennium 22. After I decode it completely I am met with a virtual recreation of a journal, detailing an interspecies trade deal of all things, a male human and what I can only describe as a female eldar shaking hands. Noting this knowledge for the future, I retreat from the file. Before I leave the virtual space, I need to check every single file here... For any bit of unnecessary data responsible for glitching the system. I won't try to access anything else. I'm already stepping on thin ice here.

Taking a quick look at each file, without accessing it, it's mostly clear, with the minor exception of a few, where the bad data was present and removed almost immediately.

Reaching the final location within the immediate area of the console I find the source of the junk data. It has the appearance of a virus, you know those little things with capsules on top and a bunch of small legs? It looked like that and was very slowly producing more junk, overflowing what little space it had to use. It is surprisingly defenseless once I engage it. Perhaps it's how it managed to slip by, posing as a harmless program and very slowly attacking, unnoticed. Once it's completely eliminated I return to my own body and take a fast look around. Anubis is hanging over my head, looking at me curiously.

"It has taken you approximately 30 seconds to check the console. It was surprisingly fast."

"Actually, the speed at which I operate exceeds the speed of light when within the interface. For me, it was about 10 minutes... And I found the reason for the problem." I added quickly. " A slow-acting virus designed to very slowly fill all available space with junk data."

At this, she stepped back. "A Virus you say? Well then, you've done more than I expected. If you manage to isolate one of those, I could develop a countermeasure..." she started to speak. I kinda cut her out at this point, waiting until I can access another terminal to continue cleansing. "... so should one be provided in a secured form, I will allow you limited access to the ship walkways, so long as you do not attempt to hack or destroy anything else."

"Do you want to get rid of me so quickly?" Perhaps I shouldn't have asked this way, but she answered quickly.

"No, I just don't like the company of unknowns. I don't really know you well enough to feel comfortable with you around. You have however proven yourself to not be hostile so far... Isolate one of those viruses and some of its data in a file and I'll make a countermeasure. After this you're free... until I have a need for you again..."

With this I immediately enter the terminal she provides me access to. Seeing the junk data, I began my task of searching for the source of it first thing. It took a while longer to push this one into a file and to lock it, but with this being done, I began to clear this console too. Leaving the virtual zone, I return once again to my body.

"One minute. I trust the trapping went well."

"The virus is in a locked file called 'Forge 15'. Soo... can I go now?" I ask hopefully.

"Yes you may go. That doesn't mean I'm going to leave you unchecked, so long as you stay aboard."

"Small question... You weren't human, weren't you?" I may be pushing it here, but I need to know.

"You're very observant. Yes." With this, she grabbed onto a plate on her chest piece. "Millenia ago I used to be Aeldari..." She removed the plate and I saw a crystalline structure inside.

"Oh... that's..."

"Unimportant. Anything else?"

"Yes... How do you know about Warhammer 40k?"

"It was thanks to Zenith... at first I thought it was a delusion of his hurt mind... but then, when what he spoke of was proven, I started to doubt this theory. And now, you confirmed the fact he was from another reality."

"Where is he now?" Someone like me? I need to know more about him.

"He is.. not well... I doubt you could help him anytime soon... just... just don't worry about him. Once I find a way to help him, you will know. Thank you... for speaking with me... Fourties."

I have to say, being able to talk to her in a friendly manner was very refreshing. I haven't realized just how straining it was, being lonely without contact... How did YoRHa androids manage without contact of others, sans Operators every once and again...

Pods. Or, more precisely, YoRHa support Pod units. While not necessarily great conversationalists, they very often accompanied androids during their excursions, both providing utility, firepower, and some companionship. There must still be some operating pods within the Bunker. But I'm definitely not heading there unarmed.

Taking my spear from her hold, I begin to head back the same way I came. I could definitely see many of the cameras now, following my moves. I still got creeps whenever I passed on of those keepers of hers, but now they mostly ignored me. Soon enough, I arrived at the storage room, where I initially made contact with Anubis. As I began to turn towards the entry corridor., I heard her over the intercom.

"Fourties, where are you heading?" Well, that was to be expected, I only just made good contact and now I'm immediately leaving. It's got to confuse her.

"I was reminded of something useful that may be present within the Bunker- the place I originally woke up in. I should be back within an hour."

"Please do... If you don't return within 2 hours, I'm sending keepers to find you."

"They can't fit through the door."

"I'll order them to make a bigger one" Well, she got me there.

"I'll be careful. Goodnight, I guess?"

"According to the standard hour system, it's 1 Pm."

"I'll try to return before 3 then."

With that, I began to head back. My objective, Storage. If there aren't any pods there, there should be some in either the maintenance or the hangar.

My first stop was the storage. There were plenty of crates, but no pods in sight. Luck was however on my side, in the 4th crate I opened there were few of them, with a red color scheme. Not my type, but they will do. Holding one, I began to rotate it in my arms, no obvious way to activate it in sight. Without any options, I decided to make the most out of it. I began to hack the pod.

Even nonoperational, it's firewalls were still active. However, compared to that turret, it was nothing. Activating its systems, I return to my body and release my hold. It begins to float a short while later.

"Greetings YoRHa Unit. This pod is currently unassigned. Requesting connection." Its voice was male

"Uh? Granted? I am 42S, but call me Fourties if you can."

The Pod was silent for a while. Likely establishing a connection with me. I could definitely feel something connecting to my systems, accessing routines I wasn't even aware I had."

"Connection established' Informed the pod once the worming ceased. "I am pod 843 currently assigned to YoRHa Unit 42S."

Ok, the naming thing is a lost cause

"Alert, YoRHa unit 42S is not connected to the Bunker Network. Do you wish to re-establish this connection?

"NO! I-I mean, the Bunker was hit with Logic Virus. As far as I know, I'm the only android still operational that isn't infected with it. Also, the bunker is no longer orbiting earth."

"Please elaborate: 'Also, the bunker is no longer orbiting earth'?"

"For some reason, we are no longer in the Solar System. Locating Systems are unresponsive, but I have managed to successfully establish a contact with a... neutral entity". How do I explain to him that we are in an entirely different universe?

"Acknowledged. Please wait, reaching a logical conclusion..." A minute later he began to speak again "Conclusion reached. In light of these special circumstances, Pod 843 will assist YoRHa Unit 42S for an unforeseen future."

"That's what I was hoping for. Can you make a quick sweep of the storage? Find anything useful?"

"Scanning... Locating crates of several vitality restoration devices as well as 15 additional Pods. Suggested course of action: Gather supplies and assume command over remaining Pods"

I took a quick look back into the box I dug 843 out of. "Can you mark other boxes containing these Pods and establish a connection to them?"

"Affirmative."

"Can you do it now?"

"Affirmative." Oh god, are we seriously doing it?

"Pod. Establish connection with remaining Pods in this storage room. You are now in charge as the primary Pod following me."

"Affirmative. Establishing connection"

It might have been the worst mistake I made so far. The somewhat disturbing feeling when 843 connected to me? It was worse, as each of the 15 Pods repeated the same action, at the same time. I was busy gathering vital restorators when it hit me. It was over very quickly, but it left a very unpleasant experience in my memory. My head was still hurting, but I was smiling through the headache. I had a small swarm of ranged units. Now to inform them of what we'll be doing.

"Pods. We will head towards the command. The last time I was there, the short-range scanners detected 5 black box signals total, myself included. Those signals haven't moved over the course of time I spent aboard the bunker. We'll check up on those and then leave towards the vessel in which I established first contact. Follow me." The Pods followed without a word

The walk to the command center went without issues. Now to quickly check the black box status...

[2 Black Box Signals detected]

"This isn't good..."

"Question" What is the matter 42S?"

"Before I left, there were 5 signals. now there are 2."

"Conclusion: A total of 3 infected YoRHa units possess motorical functions and thus are a danger towards 42S. Suggested course of action: avoid confrontation with infected units."

"Pod, I haven't asked this before. What are your weapon capabilities?"

"All standard YoRHa Pods are outfitted with gatling combat function"

"All 16 of you?"

"AFFIRMATIVE" Ok, note to self, never ask them all at once.

"There is someone we must warn. She is unaware of them"

"Acknowledged. All Pods will continue to follow unit 42S during his excursion."

The critical mass of Pods made it impossible to fit all of them at once into the elevator, it had to be taken twice. At least they know how to operate buttons. Once I crossed the 9s room window, I broke into a full sprint, Pods not far behind me. Running into the storage room once more, I shouted on top of my vocals.

"ANUBIS! THERE IS A PROBLEM!"

...

The infected group has already moved a far distance away from the Bunker, where they began their voyage. Thanks to magnetic connectors within their feet and legwear, they were able to proceed in the vacuum. One battle type continued exploring the hull they were walking on, while two others proceeded to go on, eventually splitting again, one battler going forward, while the Infected Operator reentered the ship amalgam at a different point.

 

[X9Killbot]

Arc 1 Ark Of The Forgotten

Chapter 3 The End of a Dream by Fate Weaver

===

Audio Log 728 721-28, begin recording:

"I'll be honest, I'm uncertain as to why we're taking a detour all the way to Iris'Kar. The damnable rock has exactly one noteworthy thing about it, and I'd still argue that it's a giant waste of time and resources.

My annoyance aside, I've looked through the newest reports about the world, it doesn't seem promising in the slightest.

The ocean level seems to have increased by a hundred meters or so, the storms have gotten a lot worse, and to top it all off, the main arcologies reactor has gone offline, or, at least, we are yet to see a single thing signifying it's still active.

I tried to convince the admiral that the world isn't worth reclaiming, but he shrugged it off.

He also called me a glorified toaster.

The idiot is lucky that the protocols BrayTech rammed into my head still work, otherwise I'd turn him into a bloody pulp there and then.

Now that I think about it, it is strange that I'd be redeployed from eight bloody sectors away just to reinforce a Reclamation fleet that is yet to encounter any real opposition...

I should really revisit the idea of bombarding the Naval High Command with so much bloody spam, that they'd have to redeploy me to somewhere where I'd actually be useful, on the basis of slowing the entire campaign down by decades with my spam should they refuse.

Might be quite drastic, but the idiots have shown time and time again that they have no clue what they are doing.

How they even got that far in the command chain is still a mystery to me.

My infernal ranting aside, at least it's good to know that the 78th fleet is doing well without me, I was preparing for the worst when the news came of increased Dominion activity in the sector, but they have it handled, for now, at least.

Just more motivation to reclaim this world and redeploy myself back to it.

On a final note, there se- oh dammit, the alarms are going off.

We must have arrived early, so it seems this log will have to be finished at a later date.

Beginning resynchronization in three, two, one…"

Audio Log 728 721-28, recording finished.

====

"Resynchronisation complete." I spoke, as the NIU unit began to translate the flood of information into something a human mind can begin to comprehend.

As I looked around the real space, seeking any possible deviation from the norm, I found only one.

That being the glowing red light above the door, being the only source of illumination in the entire chamber.

As the feeling within my body slowly returned, I looked down at the rest of my body, looking for signs of sabotage.

The only thing I found to be different, was a major wound on my left arm, more than likely caused by turbulence during the trip, which broke the fibers and the armored, plating, allowing me to see the gargantuan amount of small machinery, needed just to make my hand work properly.

It's quite amazing that all of it managed to fit in such a small frame.

Ah, I almost forgot to introduce myself, my mistake.

My name's Zenith, the 17th Strategos.

My title is largely irrelevant as of currently, and no matter how much power it offers, it, unfortunately, doesn't translate into the obedience of the populace at large, or well, maybe that's the wrong term.

It doesn't translate into the obedience of the military.

The sheer amount of incompetence I've had to deal with makes me wonder how we survived the Cybernetic Revolt in the first place.

What? I can trash talk the officers as much as I want. I merely can't harm them, unless they've betrayed the Federation as a whole.

Lucky bastard by all means...

Before I could continue my monolog complaining about the blatant incompetence of the naval officers I was stuck with, I was interrupted by an incoming call.

'ETM-Lumine' it read. There could have been worse people to call me, aka. someone who I wouldn't bother to hide my annoyance for.

"Just another day in the office…" I spoke in monotone, already bracing for the massive headache that is going to take place for the next few hours.

As I accepted the call, a voice rang out at volumes that made my non-existent ears hurt.

"Zenith! Are you there?!" it asked.

"Damnit Lumine, have you got no volume control on your end?" I responded, all the while trying to decipher the small sea of contradicting reports as to the ship's status.

One has to wonder how the Monarch dealt with all of this.

"No, I do not! Especially not right now, the warp turbulence has thrown us way off course, we're over the planet as we speak! Anubis said that she'd give you a briefing personally, I have to get the bridge crew under control." Lumine said as the connection was cut.

I'm not jealous of her position in the slightest at the moment.

Just as I was about to begin the transference process, another call came in, this time, I didn't have the time to think about answering it, as it forced through the queue, and displayed a name in my HUD.

'ETM-Anubis' it said.

I would be lying if I said that I didn't feel a slight bit of dread whilst reading it.

"Zenith." a feminine voice on the other end spoke, lacking any bit of warmth or compassion.

"Yes?" I replied.

"I'm supposed to be the one in the support role, not the one who controls the entire bloody ship."

"I know, but I-"

"Report to the deployment bay, I'll listen to your excuses after you make planetfall." and just like that, the line went dead.

This ought to be interesting.

As my mind was allowed to focus, I could feel the entire ship-wide network react to my presence, barriers were lifted, many of the non-crucial reports outright cast aside as a new path was opened, a path which ended with the digital display of a specialized suit of armor that has served me without fail for well over millennia at this point.

"Let the madness ensue. Engaging neural transference in three, two, one…"

And just like that, the world went white.

===

"Neural transfer complete. Beginning status check." I spoke once more, as the white subsided and allowed me to see the new area around me.

It was quite amusing to see the terrified faces of the organic crew as they looked at me.

Then again, being a 12m tall engine of death that could reliably fight and destroy entire armies does have it's benefits.

As the status check progressed, I took a look at my war form, personally checking it's newest upgrades.

The black and orange armored plating seems to have been replaced in its entirety, having been streamlined to an extreme extent, it's previously flat surfaces having shown extreme flaws during my last misadventure with the 78th fleet, more specifically, during our run-in with a splinter faction of the Laer Commonwealth…

Damnable snakes, their hyper-adaptable DNA makes fighting them head on a bloody nightmare, one moment you're facing a group of them which are borderline invisible, move at absurd speed, and are armed with weapons that can punch through most of my Men Of Bronze in a single burst, the next you're desperately dodging four gargantuan power swords, as a Laer the size of a bloody hab-block just burst out of the ground and is fully intended to cut you into quarters.

My battle visor seems to have also been replaced, my previous human-looking one having been exchanged for a wedge-shaped one, equipped with dozens of small cameras, which when connected to an MDS unit, grant a very high-quality view of the area with a roughly 220-degree angle.

The final noteworthy modification being the new Wimbletonus provided grenade launcher, stored internally within my left arm. Personally speaking, they built some of the best weaponry I've ever had the pleasure of using, I'm still impressed as to how fast they managed to get it built.

However, despite all of that, I nonetheless found my attention drawn to the organic crew around me.

They were Human for the most part, with a handful of Laer renegades, Densatyr, Tarrelians, and even a single overenthusiastic Aeldari was thrown into the mix.

It's somewhat reassuring to see that even in these times, some semblance of cooperation still endures.

Wait…. Oh no.

Densatyr and Lear on a single ship.

This isn't going to end well.

=== Meanwhile in the officers lounge ===

A human officer jumped behind the counter in a desperate attempt to dodge an incoming projectile.

"CEASE RUNNING YOU COWARD!" A female Densatyr yelled as she threw yet another glass bottle of alcohol in the Laer's general direction, all the while she reloaded her mag rifle with her lower pair of arms.

"CEASE TRYING TO KILL ME, YOU DAMNED PSYCHOPATH!" The Laer yelled back, as he flipped over a table to block the oncoming barrage.

"What have we done to deserve this?" The human asked his Tarellian comrade, as both of them hid from the conflict raging all around them.

"I know not my friend… I know not…" The Tarrelian replied grimly, as he shook his head in disappointment.

===Back to Zenith===

Here's hoping there will be a ship to come back from…

As I looked around the armory, I tried to take note of the new group of crew members that were deployed on the Pride Of Centauri.

In truth, it was quite depressing to look at them.

The vast majority were far too young to even be on this ship.

The human part was almost entirely made out of those who were forcefully drafted out of the core worlds. Their desire to help humanity at large cannot be denied, but I have to wonder, shall it be enough for them to endure life on a Reclamation fleet?

The Laer and the Densatyr were actually doing quite well, their extremely adaptable DNA granting them extremely efficiency with any task given to them. Albeit the tensions between the two. The wonders of a millennia-long philosophical rivalry I suppose.

The Tarrelians… the less spoken of them, the better. The poor bastards seem to get fucked over once per century, most of them joined up specifically to help reclaim their lost territory, at least it's good to know that they have a strong motivation.

A small chuckle left my voice module as I thought about the shenanigans that the 78th pulled during the early days of the Reclamation effort, the atmosphere among the crew made the otherwise tense atmosphere actually quite pleasant.

As I looked to my right, standing on the dozen meter tall scaffolding, was one of the newest officers, a young Densatyr, as they continued to look through one of the command terminals as if their life depended upon it.

"Say, quartermaster, how has the ship been treating you?" I asked them, as they stopped dead in their tracks the moment they realized they were the ones being talked to.

"Yes, I know that you are one of the newer recruits, now, care to answer?" I asked, as I slowly shifted my visor from its dull orange to bright red, basking their entire body in light.

"W-well, sire, it has been… strange. I never expected to be deployed on a……"

"Machine ship?" I ended the sentence for them.

"Y-yes, I don't mean to sound rude…" They spoke, their voice just barely above a whisper.

"Keep your chin up, officer. Don't let the pressure get to you, you're doing good work." I replied, as my visor shifted from red to light blue.

They stood slightly higher at my words, it's a shame that this is necessary in the first place.

"Hmm, diagnosis is complete. All modules operating at optimal capacity. Moving out." I spoke as the servos within my form roared to life and pushed me forwards.

Deployment bay… Anubis should be waiting for me there. Oh god, this is going to be bad…

===

As the massive doors before me opened, I braced myself for the oncoming storm that will be the relentless criticism from An… Oh god have mercy upon me, for she shall not…

As I entered the bay, I looked around looking for the Aeldari in question, she usually does these briefings in person…

"I see you've entered the bay, good. I'm afraid that I couldn't be there in person, but someone needs to make sure that the ship remains operational." She spoke through the intercom.

"That bad?" I asked.

"Yeah… most of the senior officers have been redeployed to other ships, we're stuck with the rookies… Also, no. That doesn't save you from my wrath after we're done with this mess."

"Damnit… Here I was hoping you'd forget. Nonetheless, what do we have?"

"A massive mess. The Nova dropships aren't coming anywhere close to that storm, most of our air fleet isn't planning it either. In other words, we, and by that I mean you, are doing the heavy lifting, as per usual." Anubis spoke with resentment.

"What else is new?" I asked.

"Change of plans, since the weather doesn't want to cooperate, you have two primary objectives. First, restore power within the arcology by any means available. Second, reactivate the weather control facility." The Aeldari replied.

"Dammit all, who makes these plans?!"

"Blame the admiral. He's obsessed with this rock for some bloody reason…"

"Drop pod or teleportation?" I asked as I braced for the worst.

"Drop pod." Anubis replied. I could hear her sadistic grin…

===

"Time to impact: 40 seconds." The pod's AI spoke, as it continued to cut its way through the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds.

"I hate these things." I spoke to myself as I looked through the outside cameras onto the planet below.

The view, or rather lack thereof, was far from promising, the storm covering the entire arcology was worse than I expected, no fragment of the massive artificial construct being visible.

At this point, I was starting to wonder if I would even land on it, instead of the massive ocean surrounding it in every direction.

My question was answered as I heard the sound of impact, as the pod impacted the surface of the arcology.

Unfortunately, it didn't stop at one.

There were seventy-three distinct crashes, as the pod punched through everything in its path.

"This gonna be bad…" I said when I heard a distinct sound of the pod opening, as the air was pushed out, and the door opened.

If there was any doubt as to the current state of the arcology, it was removed the second I witnessed its interior.

The entire thing was submerged, I'm uncertain as to how we mistook a hundred-meter increase in water level for several kilometers, seeing as when the arcology was built a few hundred meters above the ocean level to ensure it's safety.

For the entirety of it to be submerged… that didn't speak well of the planet's state at large.

Nonetheless, according to what few plans I have available, this seems to be the 17th Ring, sector 3.

Around 29km away from the arcology heart, if one could call it that.

All things considered, I am pleasantly surprised with the drop accuracy.

Unfortunately, that doesn't make the walk any shorter.

===

Deployment Log 1 - Iris'Kar

Beginning recording:

"I've been walking for a good few hours now, the storm has gotten worse.

My idea to break through the ceiling to fly to my destination was thrown out of the window when I recorded the wind speeds of over 712km/h, so I'm forced to walk instead.

Running is also out of the question, as the sheer mass of my steps has already collapsed several floors, and forced me to go around the broken path."

Ending recording.

===

Deployment Log 2 - Iris'Kar

Beginning recording:

"I've just left the maintenance section of the arcology, and entered what once was the habitable section.

The entire place is extremely unnerving, it still shares a rough resemblance to what it was in its prime, the signs are still there, the buildings are still there, the machinery is still there, but it's all a gargantuan derelict, with no signs of life as far as the eye can see.

Not even the local fauna or flora ventured here, some parts of the damage control systems must still be operational."

Ending recording.

===

Deployment Log 3 - Iris'Kar

Beginning recording:

"I take back what I previously stated, nothing dares go here because of the damnable Nautilus circling around the Arcology.

I don't think they are meant to grow that large.

Even for an ocean planet, a 28km long behemoth is anything but normal."

Ending recording.


===

Deployment Log 4 - Iris'Kar

Beginning recording:


"All of my communications systems are not responding. I'm unsure just how bad the weather must be to block tachyon communication, but at this point, I've only got eight kilometers left to my destination.

After that, nothing left to do but wait till the storm weakens, because I highly doubt it's worth it, or even possible, to restore this place to its former glory, without the need to terraform the entire bloody planet whilst one's on it."

Ending recording.

===

As I forcefully opened the final door standing between me and the core, I fully expected to see a simple, if absolutely massive, power core.

What I didn't expect to find, is an ominously floating red circle, with a grey star in its middle.

A symbol bearing an uncanny resemblance to the logo of BrayTech.

"What in the name of…" I found myself saying before I felt the water around me begin to stir, as the entire chamber was filled with air at a rate that seemed to be impossible.

My confusion at my current circumstance was cut short by an infernal roar that came from above me.

When I looked above myself, I saw an abomination, there was no better way to describe it.

I jumped out of the way just as it leaped down to where I stood less than a second earlier.

On the plus side, however, I finally got a better look at the thing that tried to crush me under its weight.

On the bad side, there wasn't much to see, other than an ever-shifting mass of grey and red tendrils which struggled to maintain a cohesive form.

It seemed to try and pull more material for its form, as many of its smaller tendrils tried to pull apart whatever came near it, and the few which succeeded used that material as a primitive form of armor.

Unfortunately, that didn't stop it from moving at speeds that should have been impossible for it to achieve, for in the blink of an eye, it left its position, and launched itself at me once more.

As I desperately attempted to dodge, my combat visor glitched out for a moment, before showing a single word above the attacker 'Mulcher'.

To my disappointment, no description of any kind was given, but the name was warning enough, as I saw the thing shift parts of its mass to form four arms coming out of what could roughly be described as its torso, each ending with what seemed to be some form of a chainsword. What a world we live in.

As I activated my combat protocols and emptied the magazine of my assault cannon into it, I realized one crucial thing, the thing couldn't care less about my ammunition, as it actively shifted its mass to repair whatever damage was done to it.

"I see how you wish to play this game, eat this!" I yelled, as my left arm split open to reveal a compact grenade launcher, containing some quite exotic munitions, including a Kelvin charge.

Aka. -273°C in a can.

As the projectile left the barrel and impacted its target, the Mulcher began to crumble, as the parts impacted by it froze instantly, and the tension exerted by the still operation parts ripped them apart.

It let out an ear-piercing scream as it tried to launch itself at me once more, only for it's lower half to break off from the main body, leaving it trying to crawl towards me.

I tried not to chuckle as I looked at it, before quickly changing the ammo type within my rifle for frost munitions, and emptying the entirety of it into the machine, freezing whatever operational parts of it remained.

"Not as dangerous as it looks." I said, I looked upon the now unmoving Mulcher before I fired a fusion grenade right underneath it.

Whatever was left of the machine disappeared in an instant, as a miniature sun proceeded to remove it from existence.

As I looked around the chamber, I noticed that the previous symbol was now gone, replaced by a white sphere of energy, which proceeded to expand rapidly, and consume everything around it, my body included.

====

As the white light subsided, and my eyes opened once more, I found myself gazing into a pair of mechanical, yet somehow welcoming golden eyes.

"You're finally awake, I was starting to think you'd make me wait for another millennium." a feminine voice spoke from in front of me.

….. What?

AN: "I have not the slightest idea what I was thinking when writing that chapter. I promise, the new one will be better than that. Not that the bar is set very high..."

Click to shrink...

 

[morkail]

Gotta be honest 30k sounds like such a awesome time to base a story In before you think about the fact the emperors crusade basically killed or conquered everything human and any remaining AI even on the side of man was killed off. The primarchs even destroyed quite a few human nations that still had a working dark age tech level.

 

[X9Killbot]

Ok people, the Project is continuing. It's just that it turned out to be slightly more complicated than we originally expected, along with a few character revisions. Now that we have gotten that mostly taken care of we should be posting new chapters soon. We will have a few side projects for situations like this, or when we run into writer's blocks, as an outlet and keep the updates coming.

 

[stevebond1990]

'Days like this,' Vannem Orlock thought as he took in the sight of the unfamiliar city below them, 'make me want to go back to bed and forget everything.'

It was a sprawling metropolis like one would see on a paradise or civilised world, not the towering Hive he had been expecting, fortunately a bank of low cloud hid the bulk of the airship the gang were flying from casual observers, the ECM suite (and that was being generous) mostly taking care of electronic detection, anyone looking would know something was here but they wouldn't know what unless they came and checked in person.

Sweeping his gaze around the command gondola, he spotted both his gang's Wrecker Road Sergeant, Emery Lancre, and Arms Master Zen Ironmight looking down at the city with interest.

"Lotta metal down there just waiting for cutting," the Wrecker stated in his off-Praetorian accent.

"Indeed, rather odd they haven't started on them," the unusually eloquent Ogryn agreed, "those hulks must have been sitting there for a decade at least."

"They ain't even that far from shore, though that big bastard's in the centre of the channel out to sea," Lancre pointed out as they flew over, "we start cutting that up and not only will we hit a big score we'll open the port up again."

Something to consider, certainly, Vannem mused as they drifted above the bay.

"We need to find somewhere to put down, sir," Castle pointed out as a short flurry of light rain impacted the windows.

"Agreed," Vannem said, striding over to the windows, he peered down at the city, "there, the second to last northern pier, there's a trio of warehouses and the gap left by the centre collapsed roof that looks wide enough to land in."

"It'll be a tight squeeze, Boss," Lancre observed, shaking his head as he looked at the landing site.

"Then I want your team out there guiding us down," Vannem countered easily, "get your gear together and be ready to drop. I want the landing site secured and the mooring lines to guide the ship in anchored down tight."

"Got it," the Wrecker replied and swiftly departed the command gondola in the direction of the onboard barracks.

"Bring us in low and slow, give the Wreckers an easier time," he commanded the helmswoman.

"Aye sir," she responded, bringing the lumbering craft into the first of a series of manoeuvres designed to bring the airship in low over the indicated buildings."

"All stop," Vannem ordered, the helmswoman complied, as the airship settled he felt the familiar shudders through the deck of the lower deck side doors opening, minutes passed as the airship hovered over the derelict buildings before, finally, the thrum of the mooring winches reverberated through the deck as the airship gently descended into the gap offered by the warehouses. The buildings proved to be larger than expected as by the time the gondola landing gear touched down, the entire mass of the airship was hidden by the red brick walls of the derelict building.

"Find the tarpaulins in the hold and have them lashed over the hole in the roof to hide us from aerial observation," he ordered one of the crew standing to one side, he then turned to Castle, "take half a dozen men in light equipment, no need to scare the locals yet, and find out where we are."

"Yes Captain," Castle acknowledged with a nod, then turned around and left the gondola.

---

"You seeing this?" Lancre asked with a sideways glance, as the five Orlocks walked down the street, looking at the passers by.

"The subdued air, the way everyone keeps their heads down and flinches when we look at them?" Castle retorted, "yeah, I'm seeing it."

"Like the hab galleries between Escher and Goliath turf after they've been licking their wounds for a while," Alys agreed, eying a teen they passed that pulled her hoody tighter around her.

"They're waiting for a fight to break out," Mordecai observed, "I'm surprised to see such reactions in a metropolis, usually the local government keeps crime low enough the common citizen doesn't have to worry."

Lancre looked at a green saloon car that passed, a red haired man driving with his daughter in the back, taking his eyes off the car he spotted a newspaper stand, "anyone got the Thrones for a paper?"

"I doubt they accept Thrones here," Mordecai countered lightly.

"He's right, we need local currency-" Castle was cut off as a white van stopped abruptly just ahead of them with a short squeal of the brakes, the driver then revved the engine before reversing with a slightly drunken weave into a side road a small crowd of men had gathered around the entrance of, the crowd following the van in with a familiar air to their chatter.

"Looks like the party's about to start," Elora stated, eying the gangers.

"Who feels like gate crashing?" Lancre asked, hands resting on the hilts of the pistol and blade hidden by his black vest.

Castle shook his head, "we don't need the attention."

That assertion would be tested not moments later by a scream from the alley the gang and van had disappeared into, a child's scream.

Lancre and Alys had moved before he could order them to stay, cursing under his breath Castle followed with Mordecai and Alys at his heel. The van had been parked to block the alley, just enough space remaining for the doors to open wide enough for the occupants to exit, the van was empty with the engine still running. Lancre was on the bonnet, peering over the top while Alys was hugging the side, unfolding and locking the stock of the Autogun she could somehow hide under her shirt no matter how thin it was or obvious it should be.

"Shit, those fuckers have dragged a kid from a car," Lancre said, provoking a growl from Mordecai and Elora.

"Then it's the face after all," an accented voice declared menacingly, "hold her."

"Fuck that," Castle said with Lancre, making the Wrecker double take, drawing his Stub Revolver he nodded to the man, "teach these fuckers not to hurt Kids."

"Yes Sir," Lancre replied with a vicious grin, his own Autopistol appearing in his hand as the other drew out his Transonic Razor, he snapped off a shot with the former prompting a panicked shout followed by loud cursing, before Alys caused yet more panic as she opened fire with her auto gun.

Castle vaulted onto the bonnet of the van and stopped beside Lancre and surveyed the scene. It was a target rich environment with twenty or so gangers in green and red, two civilians with flame red hair, a man and girl, were on the ground surrounded by two clusters of gangers, the man had signs of a recent beating while the girl was being dropped by two gangers, a dead one in front of her with a knife in hand had obviously been the one to threaten her.

His lips curled into a snarl, "Fuckers," he said with a growl deep in his chest, his revolver snapped a ganger on his right who was fumbling for a weapon and with a squeez of the trigger the woman went down with a neat red hole inches from her heart. Movement in the corner of his eye brought the revolver swinging round and he snapped a shot into another ganger that had raised his arm to club Alys with a pipe.

Lancre had slipped off the van by this point and was standing over the girl, protecting her from three gangers, the Wrecker fired two shots into the first, twisted his body around a stab from behind and with a back hand thrust buried the Razor into the second's gut, after dragging the blade upwards he yanked it free, seamlessly transitioning to a forward cut, severing the hand of the third at the wrist and sending a blood stained knife clattering to the ground still clutched in the grasp of dead fingers. A kick to the gut sent the howling teen stumbling backwards, perfectly positioning them to be knocked out by a blow from Mordecai's shock baton.

The remaining gangers briefly clustered around the back of the trapped car before they were sent scurrying over it and the waste receptacle blocking it in by the combined fire of Alys' Autogun and Elora's shotgun, raising his revolver Castle fired two shots into the fleeing gangers, one of his targets falling into the waste receptacle while the other stumbled but managed to climb over the top, falling in what he knew from experience had to be painful.

Dropping down from the van he did a quick survey of the alley; a fourteen gangers were on the floor with most dead but a few moaned piteously, Lancre, Alys and Moredai were going round the car to check the fleeing gangers weren't regrouping while Elora was fussing over the traumatised girl the gangers had been menacing, passing the two he stopped a second to glare at the corpse of the cyclopean ganger that had threatened her before continuing on, reaching the man as he tried to stand.

Holstering his revolver, Castle reached out and caught the man under his arm, he looked first at Castle's hand then up at the man himself, then with a mutually unspoken signal Castle pulled the man onto his feet.

"Thank you," the red haired man said breathlessly, "thank you."

"You're welcome, sir," Castle replied with a respectful nod.

"Daddy?" a shaky, female voice asked.

"Emma?" the man stumbled on unsteady feet, Castle reaching out to steady him, "Emma?"

"Daddy!" The man dropped to his knees and wrapped his crying daughter in a tight hug.

"Makes this whole mess worth it, don't it?" Alys asked as she and Lancre returned.

"They took off running, doubt they'll be coming back any time soon," Lancre reported.

"Good," Castle replied with a nod then pointed at the parked van, "see if you can shift that thing and clear a path out of here."

"Right," Lancre said and headed for the van.

Castle waited patiently as Elora, Alysa and Mordecai subtly cleaned, safed and hid their weapons again, after a minute or so the father calmed down enough to recover his wits, his head snapping up and glancing left and right to take in the Orlocks around him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ignore you," the man apologised, "but-my daughter…"

"It is not a problem, sir," Castle replied, holding a hand up to signal the man to stop, "it's perfectly understandable given the circumstances, I'd be worried if your first thought wasn't for your daughter."

"Yes, of course," the man agreed, nodding as he hugged his daughter before standing up and facing Castle, "Thank You for coming to our aid."

"House Orlock takes a dim view on those who choose to harm children," Castle replied with a hint of darkness in his voice, "once we heard them threaten violence on your daughter, we couldn't walk away."

The man swallowed heavily and glanced at his little girl, who had placed her hand in his, "again, you have my deepest thanks. Is there any way I could repay this kindness?"

"Well," Castle mused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "my friends and I are in a bit of a spot, we're not locals you see? We were travelling and got turned around in a fog bank, we have no idea where we are, could you enlighten me?"

"I guessed you weren't from the city, not many locals would have attacked the ABB and especially not against such numbers," the man replied, "welcome to Brockton Bay, the worst city in America."

---

"Brockton Bay?" Vannem queried, looking up from the mix of newspapers and local history books Castle had thrown onto the chart table, "never heard of it."

"We're in the general area of Boson Hive on Terra," Lancre pointed out, showing Vannem a map of Holy Terra with a map taken from the GPS network overlaid on top, "long before Hive cities were invented, it must have been swallowed up by Boson as it grew."

"I don't like the implications of the date on those papers," Rideway countered, "2009? That's the first decade of M3, that's impossible!"

"Linear time is a suggestion at best in the Warp," Zec Ironmight retorted in his deep, clear voice, "ships have left the Warp decades or centuries before and after they entered, it's not an unknown phenomenon."

"That requires us to go through the Warp which this airship isn't capable of," Ridgeway shot back.

"Enough! Both of you," Vannem ordered, both his subordinates quieting instantly, he turned around and walked towards the forward windows of the command gondola and gazed out, not so much seeing as contemplating.

"I have no idea why we are here or how, none of us do," Vannem stated softly, though everyone in the gondola heard him clearly, "however, we have been presented with a golden opportunity for House Orlock. A chance to make our fortunes on Holy Terra itself in an age of innocence and wonder, a time of opportunity for those willing to take the risks."

"We are starting small, yes, we can no longer count on the support of the Main House or the rest of our allies, true, but we have proven many times to possess the cunning, intelligence and ruthlessness to press every advantage we acquire, House Orlock will rise once more," Vannem stated with utter surety.