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Thread: [WH40k] The Silent Forge [M] [IC]

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    Default [WH40k] The Silent Forge [M] [IC]

    [Rated for violence, gore, disturbing content, various other adult themes, and general badness]

    Tanarus sat like a statue in his command throne on the bridge of his flagship, Truthseeker. He had let the majority of his mind become immersed into the Manifold, pieces flowing through different systems of the ship to check on the various diagnostics and communicate with his ship officers not located on the bridge. He was awaiting the return of the environment data for the planet's surface. Analysis of the air, soil, and whatever water samples that could be extracted might clue the Explorator in on why the planet was silent. And the surface team needed to know the state of the atmosphere so they could prepare for air full of biological toxins or if the surface had been irradiated. Tanarus let some of fragmented self return as he took stock of the location of every person of interest on his ship.

    Magos Yvette Krystek, known the ship as Madam Krystek, sat in her poorly lit quarters on the Truthseeker. The lighting was poor by her own choice, as her room was nicer than what most on the ship had. She sat cross-legged before a private cogitator that she had brought with her in her baggage. Thick cables connected the machine to the ship through ports that had once been hidden behind a wall panel.

    Kyrstek had a very human visage, which was considered odd given her ranking among her peers. Outside of the Martian Priesthood, she would be considered beautiful. No such compliments came her way from many of her peers, who had either suppressed or removed the parts of their minds that gave into those chemical feelings. But, keeping a human face had its uses for her. She did not need to take advantage of it as she stared at the glowing screen of her cogitator. Data streams flowed across the screen like the rapids of a river. Krystek's eyes flitted from stream to stream, isolating the important data. A small ringing from her door caught her attention and she ceased the operation of the cogitator.

    She stood and straightened her robe before moving to her door and keying it open. The junior priest on the other side gave a respectful bow and the sign of the cog. +I have been sent to inform you that the surface team will be gathering soon.+ The priest said in a blurt of binary. +Attempts to contact you through the noosphere have been met with silence.+

    +I have been absorbed in work+ she replied +I will be sure to keep an open eye on it from now on. Thank you for informing me.+

    The junior priest bowed again and glided away down the steel hallway. She closed the door and returned to her work desk. She had been neglecting noospheric communication in order to focus on her data collection. But if it had gone noticed, she could no longer ignore communications from it. A series of thin dendrites snaked from her shoulders. Monomolecular edged blades extended from the ends of the dendrites as she flexed synthetic muscles. She relaxed, letting the blades return to their homes and the dendrites fall idle. She returned to her chair and resumed her data collecting.

    In the Bowels of the Truthseeker

    Secutor Mikaeus stood on a raised platform overlooking the converted storage hall. In the hall proper, skitarii ran training drills which Mikaeus was overseeing. The secutor was tall, his body crafted in imitation of the human musculoskeletal system. From the nose down, his face was complex rebreater unit and at eye level was a black bar that ran around the circumference of his head and was set into the bionic skull. A glowing eye stared out from the black strip, scrutinizing the drills below him. An identical eye was set in the back of his head. He was without his robes and there were multiple vacant ports on his body for various attachments to be fitted in. His cybernetic limbs ended in clawed hands and feet, the former of which rested on the guard rail as he observed.

    +Secutor Mikaeus.+

    The binary came from a source behind the Secutor. The eye set in the back of his head focused on the priest who had spoken to him, prompting him to continue. +You are requested at the evaluation of Skitarius Delta and Skitarius Kappa.+

    +Is that not the Master of Skitarii's assignment?+

    +The Master requested yours as a second opinion since they will be on the surface team as well.+

    +Sound reasoning. I will depart at once+

    Mikaeus turned from the view without another word and strode past the priest into the halls of the grand ship.

    Location Unknown

    “The primary preparations are complete. We can begin secondary protocols as soon as the recharge is complete.”

    “How long will that take?”

    “With the energy that was expended? A few hours.”

    “And the excavation...is going just as projected.”

    “So we are continuing with our present schedule?”

    “It remains optimal.”

    Location – Bridge of the Truthseeker

    +A ship is translating into realspace.+

    The statement brought Tanarus from his trance and he disconnected with the Manifold. The ship's oculus showed the ugly tear in reality and the ship breaking through out of it. The prow of the grand Imperial vessel turned to face the positioned fleet and began broadcasting a communication signal. +Receiving the signal,+ the communications officer intoned. +It is the Inquisition, Magos.+

    +I was hoping to be on the ground before they showed up,+ Tanarus said, translating his irritation through the wavelength. +Let us see what they say before we proceed.+

    The fleet moved into a less threatening arrangement for the arrival of the Imperial ship. Tanarus did not want to appeal overtly hostile to any friendly ships arriving the in the area. Though the Inquisition signals did not fill him with confidence.
    Last edited by Atrum Daemon; 02-09-2014 at 03:13 AM.
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    +Communique coming through. The ship identifies as Hammer of Witches. And is hailing us.+

    +Reply to the hail,+ Tanarus ordered.

    “Hammer of Witches hail received by Truthseeker, command ship of the Mechanicus Explorator fleet under Magos Explorator Tanarus.”

    The message was sent in polite Gothic speech. Tanarus interlaced his fingers and rested his elbows on his legs, taking a pensive posture as he awaited the reply.

    "Good Morrow, Truthseeker. This is Inquisitor Solomon Grundy of the Ordo Hereticus. We received news of a lost forge world, and since we were the closest Inquisitorial vessel available, we decided to be the ones to investigate. I wish to dock with your ship and meet with Magos Explorator Tanarus and the other leaders of the Explorator fleet." Said a gruff and imposing voice over the vox link.

    Silence settled over the vox link for a few moments before the Truthseeker replied. “Docking request accepted, Inquisitor. There will be a party to receive you at the bay.”


    Some time later, the two large ships finally managed to get close enough to connect the docking umbilical, and Inquisitor Grundy walked across the bridge and into the Ship alongside his young female assistant, and they were both flanked by an inquisitorial stormtrooper armed with hot-shot lasguns. The Young aide seemed beside herself with glee and, unlike her master, she was quite vocal in showing it. "Ooh, so this is what a Mechanicus ship looks like?" She said, as she began taking picts of the room she was in and the welcoming party.
    Inquisitor Grundy rolls his eyes and sighs. "Greetings. I am Inquisitor Grundy, and this is my assistant, Elizabeth Borden."
    "You can call me Lizzy!" She says, in a high-pitched voice and she extender her hand out to shake to the leader of the welcoming party. "What's your name?" She was grinning an innocent grin, and she was quite forward and 'chipper', one might say. Which is, in all respects, not what you'd normally see in a servant of the inquisition.

    The welcoming party consisted of a small group of tech priests. The one standing closest to the front presented a human face studded with interface ports and a shaved head. He shook her hand without the hesitation one might expect from a priest of Mars and said: “I am Ulric, one of Magos Tanarus's senior adjutants. I will be seeing to your needs until the Magos can meet you himself. He has many tasks to delegate so he can meet with you, Inquisitor. We would also ask that your aid refrain from capturing picts while on the Truthseeker. For security.”

    Ulric was very comfortable speaking outside of binary. Everything about him from his human visage to his ease of speech spoke of someone whose purpose was to talk where his superiors could not or would not.

    "I apologize. It will not happen again." He says, looking sternly at Elizabeth who sadly puts her device away and who looks like she was a puppy you just kicked.

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    Hmph, some Inquisitor bringing a school girl with him.

    His eyes whirred and clicked as he watched from the balcony, aural receptors tuned on the conversation below. To the naked eye he would appear only lightly augmented, but to detailed study he would appear as heavily augmented as a Skitarri praetor, just in a different direction.

    Nikolai Oppen had changed since becoming an Ocularis for the Lords Dragon, but he still had that glimmer of mischievous inquisitiveness that had gotten him into trouble so many times. The Lords Dragon had done nothing to crush it, in fact they had fostered it, as they saw it as a valuable asset in someone meant to be their eyes and ears. He made up his mind and made his way down to the landing party.

    "Adept Ulric, Inquisitor Grundy" he vocalized, rather than using binary. As the two men looked at his approach, they would see a thin young man in the red, cog teethed robes of a senior adept. "If I may interject in my role as Ocularis. Lizzy here is obviously a curious soul, and I would be willing to give her a tour of the less restricted sections of the ship. To build good will between the Inquisition and the Mechanicus."

    He turned to the Inquisitor, bowing slightly and making sign of the aquilla over his chest.

    "With your permission, Inquisitor. Knowledge is power, after all. And in this endeavor, someone knowledgeable in the ways of the machine cult could be vital to our missions success, Forge worlds can be dangerous places even when under the control of the Adeptus Mechanicus."
    Last edited by dakkagor; 02-17-2014 at 11:44 AM.

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    It sometimes came as a surprise to outsiders that the priests of the mechanicus cult did something as normal as sleep.

    Dreaming was an even bigger stretch, but that was exactly what junior priestess Raechel Kuscelian had been doing. She normally slept little when she was working on an important project, confining her rest to short 40-minute periods of restorative REM sleep, but it was not a pattern that she was augmented enough to be able to keep up indefinitely. Kuscelian valued certain aspects of her humanity - perhaps more than a tech-priest of her rank should – but one augmentation that she was keen to earn was the catalepsean implant that all senior magi used to minimise their need for sleep, and the dreams that came with it. Events that were now several months old still continued to worm their way into her dream cycles, and did so with uncomfortable clarity.

    Perhaps it was a purely psychological effect; a result of the profound effect those events had had on her. Or perhaps her unconscious mind was tapping into her electrograft storage nodes, and accessing recorded memories that she normally kept carefully sequestered. Kuscelian had taken to deactivating her otherwise constant link to the Truthseeker's data-net when she lay down to sleep – it would not do to accidentally microburst certain memories into the noosphere where any of her fellow tech-priests might see them. But that wasn't what vexed her the most. Not only would her dreams dredge up past events with eidetic clarity – sometimes, they would even add new data to them.

    Kuscelian hoped that her unease wasn't obvious to the more perceptive of her fellow adepts as she turned down an arterial corridor towards the Truthseeker's number 6 docking bay. She was a tall, skinny woman, and her tightly-belted robe fluttered around her thin frame as she crossed the hall with long, preoccupied strides. She caught herself at it, and resorted to a rather human method of calming herself, activating her electrograft with a mental nudge and streaming a music file to the implant nestled inside her right ear. The implant was a simple artificial cochlea, replacing the organic one that had been deafened in a brutal accident several months earlier. The music was a typical product of the Ad Mech menials on Vost: a rhythmic arrangement of audio samples, surreptitiously recorded from the whir and clank of machinery that surrounded them during their work shifts. The magi overseers had viewed such creations with bafflement, or even with suspicions of tech-heresy, but Kuscelian had spent her formative years among the menials before the standard aptitude tests had earmarked her for the priesthood, and she always associated the simple music with home. It was a rather weak, sentimental coping mechanism, but Kuscelian told herself that the recording of the sound of the cult's works was – in its own way – praise to the machine god.

    An unexpected crackle of interference squealed across the recording as she approached the door to the docking area, and she shut off her electrograft with a start. The door, with its embossed skull of the mechanicus – half bone, half bionic – slid up into the top of the bulkhead doorframe as two figures stepped through from the other side. The first was a gangly young tech-priest in a red robe. Kuscelian herself was 27 standard years old and the other tech-priest couldn't have been any older, but the binary stitching of his robe and the ident signals from his active electrograft marked him as a senior adept. If the first figure was strange then the second was stranger; a white haired young woman with albino skin sharply contrasted by a uniform of black flakweave and leather. Her uniform bore the iconography of the ordo hereticus.

    The inquisition were already here. And what's more, Kuscelian knew what had caused the sudden glitch in her aural implant. She had worked with psykers before. She glanced across the docking bay from underneath her robe's hood, and saw another black-clad figure in conversation with magos Ulric, this one flanked by two conspicuously armed guards.

    +Senior adept.+ she acknowledged the first of the figures in front of her as she stepped aside from his path. She used the noosphere, linking her data-stream to his, rather than greet him aloud. She did not trust her human voice not to betray the surprise and slight sense of suspicion she was feeling. The emotions were likely betrayed regardless, by the significant 0.03 second pause before she added:

    +Where is the inquisition representative being taken?+

    She followed up the otherwise impertinent question with an authorisation code-packet, citing her role aboard the Truthseeker as xenotech and inquisition relations advisor, and the summons from magos Ulric that had led her to the docking bay in the first place.
    Last edited by Azazeal849; 03-31-2014 at 06:42 PM.
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    Nikolai's eyebrows shot up in surprise at the sudden appearance of Adept Kuscelian. He mulled over the received data packet in the time it took an unaugmented human to blink, then composed his reply before speaking. The Interrogator stared blankly at the woman who had appeared and blocked their path for all of the second the exchange took.

    +Interrogator Elizabeth represents a chance for access to knowledge on the Inquisitions motives and assets. Would you aid me in a data-mining operation towards the objective of gaining a full picture of Inquisitorial capabilities and aims in this coming mission?+

    "Interrogator, my apologies. Let me introduce Adept Kuscelian, who is the official Adept for managing our relationship with the Holy Ordos."

    He smiled, inclining his head.

    "Adept Kuscelian is something of an expert, having worked with the Inquisition in the past. I am certain she could give you a better tour of the unrestricted areas than I could."

    Nikolai wasn't sure if he trusted Kuscelian. He had only read part of her files, some of which was still sealed at a clearance level he did not have access too. Her presence aboard was either serendipity, or conspiracy, and after his own experiences he was more inclined to believe the latter.

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    "Ooh, that sounds like fun! I do so love tours. Reminds me of when I used to go visit the archaeotech museums back home. It was, like, the only thing I could do. Other than play around with the other children, which was boring." Elizabeth holds out her hand for Adept Kuscelian to shake. "Greetings, Adept Kuscelian, my name's Elizabeth Borden, Aide to Inquisitor Solomon Grundy. But enough with the formalities, let's go!" She says, showing the enthusiasm of someone naive and young. "It's been a long time since I've been able to 'hang out' as it were, with another girl. Most of the staff on my Master's ship are all male. And they have such an odor as you wouldn't believe. I mean, is it that hard to take a bath more than once a week? But on here, it smells really clean. Kind of an antiseptic smell, but I prefer the smell of sea air, myself. But enough rambling, let's go!"

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    +Interrogator Elizabeth represents a chance for access to knowledge on the Inquisitions motives and assets. Would you aid me in a data-mining operation towards the objective of gaining a full picture of Inquisitorial capabilities and aims in this coming mission?+

    Data mining. Kuscelian didn't like the sound of that, even if she could see the logic behind it. Perhaps she could find a way to steer her own course through the middle ground.

    +Leave it to me, senior adept.+ Once again there was a measurable delay in her response, but the content was positive. A second data-pulse followed a few milliseconds later. +Be advised, I believe that the interrogator is a psyker.+

    "Interrogator, my apologies. Let me introduce Adept Kuscelian, who is the official Adept for managing our relationship with the Holy Ordos."

    He smiled, inclining his head.


    Elizabeth held out her hand for Adept Kuscelian to shake. "Greetings, Adept Kuscelian."

    "Raechel is fine." Kuscelian said, raising her hands and lowering the hood of her scarlet robe. The action revealed a round face capped by a ponytail of auburn hair, and wide-set eyes that were the same shade of reddish brown. The tech-priestess accepted Elizabeth's handshake, clasping the interrogator's albino hand in her larger, thinner one.

    "My name's Elizabeth Borden, aide to Inquisitor Solomon Grundy. But enough with the formalities, let's go!" the interrogator said, showing the enthusiasm of someone naive and young. Kuscelian wasn't quite sure what to make of that. None of the psykers she had ever met had been quite right in the head, but between dour, cynical Valari and poor, broken Hazael, she had never met one who was quite so cheerful. On the other hand, events of her recent past had taught her that a blasé attitude among Throne agents tended to correlate not with naiveté, but with being very, very good at one's job. There were no useless members of an inquisition team.

    "Adept Kuscelian is something of an expert," the senior adept said, "Having worked with the Inquisition in the past. I am certain she could give you a better tour of the unrestricted areas than I could."

    "Shall we start with the skitarii training gallery?" Kuscelian suggested, turning back down the corridor and holding out an arm to indicate that Elizabeth should follow. "I know that security is the inquisition's first priority."

    As she turned, she changed frequencies within the noosphere and pulsed a message to magos Ulric, who was still in the hanger with the other inquisition personnel. The short stream of code explained her departure, outlining her agreement with senior adept Oppen. She remembered the very human raise of eyebrows as she had run into him, and the perhaps more deliberate smile as he had introduced her. Interaction training, or genuine humanity? Once again, she found herself wondering how an adept who was just as young as her and just as unaugmented had achieved a senior rank.

    "It's been a long time since I've been able to 'hang out' as it were, with another girl." Elizabeth chattered as they walked. "Most of the staff on my Master's ship are all male. And they have such an odor as you wouldn't believe. I mean, is it that hard to take a bath more than once a week?"

    Kuscelian's grimace was genuine. "Really? How many of them did you have to put up with? The inquisitor I liaised with a few months ago had about twenty people on her staff, all crammed into one safe house, but they at least all knew how to wash."
    Last edited by Azazeal849; 03-04-2014 at 04:31 PM.
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    Aboard the Truthseeker

    +I will meet with the Inquisitor in good time,+ Tanarus said to his master of engines. +This matter of the possible data leak is more pressing.+

    +The matter of making sure the Inquisitor does not meddle too much is just as pressing, Tanarus,+ the master of engines, Magos Balor, retorted. +The matter is being looked into. Perhaps the adepts are simply jumping at nothing. Or it is a quirk of the Truthseeker's spirit. You have dealt with old vessels before.+

    Tanarus knew Balor had a point. While he would rather look into the possibility of a leak personally, there was much else going on that demanded his attention. Before the Inquisitor arrived, it had been the surface party that was gathering. Now, he had to entertain the whims of an Inquisitor who would most likely insert himself into the team going to the surface. Inserting new variables into an already complex equation only led to needless complication and inevitable confusion.

    The Explorator attended to his noosphere and located his adjutant, Ulric. +Show the Inquisitor to the bridge. I will meet with him here.+

    Ulric sent back a confirmation and returned his full attention to the scene before him. He watched the proceedings unfold before him, mildly surprised at how quickly Oppai and Kuscelian were to help the Inquisitor's aid. He sent a noospheric message to Mikaeus advising him of the situation with Kuscelian and Elizabeth. The Secutor sent back a confirmation message laced with some gratification at being kept in the loop. Ulric could rest easy knowing the two women would not be allowed to do anything foolish.

    He smiled amiably at the Inquisitor. “I have just received instructions to see you to the bridge, Inquisitor. It seems Explorator Tanarus has freed himself enough to see you right away. I will answer any questions you may have along the way to the best of my knowledge. If you would follow me, Inquisitor.”

    Ulric turned and extended an arm toward the bowels of the ship. He thought it better to let the Inquisitor walk parallel with him rather than follow behind. Ulric did not want Inquisitor Grundy to have any reason to expect foul play by following a group of tech-priests.

    Yvette Krystek watched the entire exchange from a catwalk above the boarding deck. The gathering interested her greatly, not just the arrival of the Inquisitor, but in observing who would go to see it of their own volition. Of course Tanarus had sent his adjutant Ulric to receive the Inquisitor. The presence of Ocularis Oppen intrigued her a bit more than the appearance of Adept Kuscelian. She leaned on the guard railing, a smile playing across her fair features as she watched Ulric invite the Inquisitor to walk with him.

    Location Unknown

    “Begin infusion process.”

    The terminal blinked a confirmation that was followed by the whirring of machines. A sickly purple light began to emanate from the large, rotating engines set about the room. The figure before the terminal turned around as the sound of footsteps reached augmented hearing. “Trying the smaller machine again?”

    “We can still gather data while the main batteries recharge. I can at least use this workspace to attempt to correct some of the problems that came up in the latest testing by studying the crystal itself.”

    “And the poor soul in the tank?”

    “Well, I would like to understand the full capabilities.”

    The infusion process finished and the machines quieted. Both men examined the terminal to see the immediate results. “Another one dead, doctor.”

    “Yes, yes. But I can still examine the body. And I still await a sample of your 'blood.'”

    “I wouldn't hold your breath, doctor. You'll suffocate.”
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    "Right." Said Grundy. "Lead on." He would follow him.

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Elizabeth happily walked alongside Raechel. "Oh, it's not that there's a lot. I mean, we are packed a little tight when we go to the mess hall, but, I think most of the crew is from some filthy Hive-world or Feral world. Nothing like the people I grew up with. Everything was clean, everyone had manners. Ever since I started, I've seen and smelled more than I ever thought. He also keeps me busy translating ancient texts from Old Angli to Gothic. Quite a few were slightly heretical. Not harmfully so, but, you know, and when I asked why he didn't just destroy them, he said 'that is your job. As members of the Inquisition, we find heresy and destroy it, so, if you think something presents a threat, annihilate it'." Elizabeth sighs. "Most of them are fiction, old books like 'Battlefield Earth' or 'I, Robot'. They are kinda fun to read, and very well written. I've got a few on a dataslate I'm carrying with me. I could lend it to you. Since, like, we're friends now, yes?" Lizzy has a hopeful look in her eye.
    Last edited by Cfavano; 03-01-2014 at 05:42 AM.

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    Delta and Kappa kept their hellguns tight to the shoulder as they advanced towards their target with cautiously precise steps down the seemingly abandoned hallway. The former covered the advance and the latter covered their progress. Over the past several hours they had meticulously cleared six floors of this tenement without sight, sound, or suggestion of life. Corridor by corridor, room by room, and stairwell by stairwell, each had been just as deserted as this one appeared to be. The lack of contact had kept them wary and focused. Outside and in the distance, they could hear other skitarii elements were engaged in heavy combat. Explosions and gunfire reverberated off the hab district’s pre-formed ferrocrete stacks.

    But the wider conflict was not their immediate concern. Heat signatures had apparently been detected from within the tenement building, and the pair had been detailed to make a confirmation. While their search had thus far been fruitless, other units had made hostile discoveries and voxed for reinforcement. The last direct communication Delta and Kappa had received was from the nearest section, which had been directed to assist another engaged platoon. No further amendment had been made to their orders, so the two continued their reconnaissance without the prospect of backup. The street war had escalated, and the vox chimed out friendly nullifications with increasing regularity. Their stress levels rose with each floor and room they cleared.

    The couple stacked up on either side of the last domicile cell on this floor. Delta stepped forward to search the door frame for traps while Kappa kept them covered. Satisfied that there were no traps Delta stepped back, readied a stun grenade, and then shared a nod with Kappa. Three seconds later Kappa’s boot thundered into the door and violently broke it inwards as Delta hurled the primed stun grenade into the room. It exploded with a blinding light and deafening roar as Kappa charged across the threshold, protected from and unfazed by the close detonation. While Kappa went right, Delta followed and went left as they cleared the corners and swept into the room’s interior.

    Delta and Kappa stalked through the open floor room with parallel rows of bunked cots, checking them from top to bottom with rifles at the ready. Each of the bunks was covered by rumpled and threadbare linens, with small dented footlockers underneath. The menials who inhabited this building were perpetually trading the cots by work shift, and their absence was profoundly abnormal. Other than the two skitarii there was nothing living, or even dead, although there were signs of life. Kappa’s eye was caught by the glow of a battered old data slate as Delta noted a styrene cup on the floor with a still wet puddle of recaff. Both skitarii turned back towards the entrance as one, rifles up and ready to continue their search.

    “Skitarius Delta and Skitarius Kappa, your exercise is concluded.” A synthesized voice intoned over their voxes. “Stand down and proceed to your next station.”

    “We will comply.” Delta responded for them as they relaxed their posture. They made the Omnissiah’s cog and deactivated the sensor and recorder networks built into their armor. The fitted suits of carapace were a dark grey slate and marked with their identifiers in stark white binaric and gothic. Both skitarii wore their bulky armor over Mechanicus red greatcoats that covered anonymous black fatigues.

    “Well,” Kappa spoke after rumbling sigh as he flicked up his silvered photo-visor, “that was anti-climactic.”

    “Our first unsupervised watch shift.” Delta quietly retorted as she raised her own photo-visor and idly stretched. “Now that was anti-climactic.”

    “Nice low blow, Dom.” Kappa sarcastically complemented as he fixed Delta with a withering glance. “When are you going to let it go?”

    “Never, Kaz.” Delta answered as she returned a fierce look of her own and held it. “Besides,” She winked conspiratorially at her partner, “you like the abuse.”

    Kappa snorted a laugh and shook his head in amused defeat. Delta’s mock temper faded as she started to chuckle mischievously alongside Kappa’s now hearty laughter. The oppressive tension that had built up over the past several hours of training dissipated rapidly as they continued to laugh away. Outside the war in the streets continued to rage violently away in absurd contrast to their merriment. In reality the conflict was sounds of other skitarii elements training in the modified cargo hall. The quickly fabricated drill courses might be considered ad-hoc by Mechanicus standards, the results we impressive none the less.

    “Okay, my dear, that’s enough levity. We have somewhere to be.” Kappa eventually managed as his laughter died down, to which Delta agreed with a sigh and nod of her head. The two clasped left hands and held for a moment, before they squeezed firmly and separated. Both Delta and Kappa kept eye contact as they lowered their visors back down. They turned as one and then exited the room.

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