Beast of Nurgle
Nottingham, UK
|
"There is no greater ship than the emperors vengeance, she will last until time itself ends.....or I destroy her"
Captain Rykin - M41.345
Rykins suit flickered into life, he could see his visor flicker up with the tactical read outs of his suit. It looked grim, he was running on backup power. He tried to move but found himself unable to grab purchase on any surface with his hands or feet. He looked around, through his visor he could only make out small white flecks, millions of them. He put this down to his suit being faulty. He was about to remove his helmet when a sudden thought hit his mind.... He tried to move around some more to get a better understanding of his surroundings, his movements still unable to purchase anything. He used his body moment to swing him round, that's when he saw it, and he recoiled.
In front of him was the vast expanse of the 'emperors vengeance', in pieces, burning. His beloved cruiser. Destroyed. Thoughts started to cross his mind, who had done it, why did they, then it hit him, he was floating in the vast emptiness of space, his ship slowly edging away from him.
He knew he had to act fast, he re-routed all remaining power to life support and coms. He clicked his vox unit on to his lieutenants frequency.
'Tazmin, this is Rykin, do you read.....'
Nothing.
'Tazmin, come in dammit, this is urgent....'
Still nothing. Then a small click and static washed through his ears and then silence.
'Ssssss...Rykinssss.....' Something hissed, it sounded like whatever it was was in his suit with him. 'You'll regretsssss what yous dids to us....your names is now our goals' the voice was inhuman, like millions of voices forming one, all straining with the sound of pain and suffering.
'I have done nothing' Rykin spat back, realising what the voice was 'chaos spawn will not claim my life, the beloved emperor protects me'
The voice laughed, a million laughs, each one different, each one with a different meaning 'the emperor is nots here Rykinssss.... We wills gets you Rykinssss' his name popped out of his suits vox unit nearly bursting his ear drums. What had this voice meant, what had he done.
Rykin suddenly realised that another vox channel was chiming for his attention, he clicked on to it.
'Tazmin, if that's you, we have a serious prob...' Before he was finished a voice cut him off.
'Sorry to interrupt you captain, but before you debrief, I suggest we get you back inside'
Rykin was a little taken back 'identify yourself trooper'
'Udon sir, of viper squad' the voice answered back 'and with your permission I would like to open the air locks and get you back on board'
Rykin swung himself round and saw the approaching thunderhawk 'permission granted Udon, and thank you'
'Don't thank me yet sir' Udon replied 'I don't think the situation is over'
Rykin stepped out of the airlock removing his helmet 'what, in the emperors name, happened to my ship' Rykin barked as he threw his helm on the floor.
In front of him stood 5 marines, all with their helms removed, their armour had seen better days with each of them looking like they had been through weeks of battle. One of the marines had even lost an arm but still managed to stand to attention when Rykin exited the airlock, his gene enhanced body compensating for the loss.
One of the marines stepped forward and Rykin recognised his voice from the vox 'I am Udon sir, and this is the rest of my squad' he indicated to each in turn 'Ballek, Kyzer, Garrette and Mysek'
Each in turn saluted with the sign of the Aquila apart from the marine called Garrette who only half saluted, obviously not yet coming to terms with his missing limb.
'Pleasantries aside captain' Rykin said
'Not captain sir, i just took charge of the situation'
'Very well Udon, you're captain of your squad now, unless you'd like me to find someone better?'
Udon looked at the squad behind him, they all shrugged their shoulders at him.
'Am I to call you captain or not Udon' barked Rykin, obviously getting annoyed with the lack of progression in such a simple decision.
Udon snapped back to face Rykin 'I will be captain sir, until I die or you find some one better'
'Very well captain, walk with me and debrief, rest of you at ease, tend to your arms and your wounds. I have a feeling this isn't over'
As Rykin turned to head towards the other end of the vessel he noticed his helm he had thrown on the floor, covered in small dents and scratches, covered in claw marks.
'Debrief Udon, what happened' Rykin and Udon had resigned to the other end of the vessel 'why is my ship burning and where is the rest of my company and crew'
Udon looked nervous, if an astartes could look nervous. 'I don't remember sir' he advised plainly 'I regained consciousness in hanger bay seven with the other 4 members, we clambered aboard this thunderhawk as soon as we realised the ship was going down'
Rykin stared back at Udon 'you don't remember anything?' He said, in an almost accusing tone.
'Nothing, sir' said Udon matter of factly 'and you, sir, do you not remember anything?' Udon matched the same tone Rykin had.
Rykin paused, staring him down, then relaxed 'nothing Udon, not a single thing' Rykin looked around, annoyed with the situation 'Ok, let's take stock, get that marine of yours with the missing arm back in the fight' Udon nodded 'and get which ever one of your squad members who is good with computers tapping into any available data stream he can, I want to know what happened' Udon continued nodding. Rykin was about to continue when the hatch to the cockpit opened up and a grotty imperial solider popped his head out, obviously having gone through the same thing. A little taken aback to see another space marine on board then there was before but soon over looked the change in situation.
'Grog sir, pilot' the solider said a little rushed 'you might want to see this, your ship is, ermmm.... Entering the warp, on its own'
|
