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Made in gb
Regular Dakkanaut




Prologue

His gaze voyaged into the depths, traversing the rugged canyon floor and clustered mats of coral, his fingers repetitively smoothing over the barrel of his modified las-gun. It had been five decades since the Imperium had abandoned Salarius's aqua-hives, presuming them consumed by hive fleet Cronos. Instead , scarcely an hour after the Tyranid's invasion began, a xenos fleet had swept out of the void and immolated the bio-ships and vanished, their identity still a mystery. Those tyranids which had descended upon the ocean planet were still devastating, but those hives which weathered the initial storm clung on. As synapse creatures were hunted down, the near constant swarmings of the imperial holdouts receeded. Now Talanthus stood upon a corridor that linked Salarius's structures together; hoops of ceramite encircling the reinforced plexiglass that separated him from the crushing depths of the Ocean.

Hollow footsteps rang across the corridor and a twist of the neck revealed his freind, striding towards him with a mild grin plastered on to his face.
"Talanthus!"
"Got any news Ladan?
A shrug rode upon his shoulders.
"Not much, the Tal'koth are making a supplies delivery to the platform in exchange for tyancergonal vats, a patrol's gone to harvest some more of the stuff and a scouting party's gone to check out the old transmissions base".
"The transmissions base? I thought that place was gutted during the invasion"
" Initial reports indicate it's mostly intact..." Ladan trailed off, for his comrades gaze had seemingly been caught on something in the distance, on the far side of the surface platform which served as the hives only link with anything off planet.
"What?"
"Nevermind, I thought I saw something..."
"You sure its nothing?"
"Positive"


The two former valkries sped through the azure waters. A pilot eased his throttle forwards slightly. If he didn't get the additional cargo to the platform before the Tal'Koth arrived, Glynnis would have his head. Suddenly a trio of bony figures raced across his bow with fins hugged tight to their bodies. The pilot frowned. Most feral Tyrannids had intergrated into an already hostile ecosystem, but sea shrikes tended to be rare.
"Look ou..."
The frantic warning across the comms was cut off as the sub to his port side was oblierated by a storm of bone shards. The pilot banked starboard. He made it 20 metres before a barbed tentacle lashedd out, tearing into his craft as water flooded in to drown out his screams.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2016/11/18 00:11:51


 
   
Made in gb
Thunderhawk Pilot Dropping From Orbit





Hi, welcome to Dakka.
I liked this short piece you put up. though could do with adding to as itsi a bit too short. Your off to a fine start though. I'd like to hear more on Aqua-Hive Salarius. Paint me intrigued.

Come into my web, said the spider to the fly.
Come rest your wings, and let us talk eye to eye.
For I am a spider, and you are the fly. Now that you are here, let us sit, and say hi.
But I have have no morsel to share, nor anything to eat. But wait, what is that stickiness upon your feet.
Ah now I have you, now I can eat. Now I can enjoy you, or store you as meat.
For I am the spider, and you are the fly. How else could it have gone, between one such as you, and one such as I.
 
   
Made in gb
Renegade Kan Killin Orks






Northern Ireland

I saw Aqua-hive and had to come take a look. This oughta be something a bit different. Looking forward to exploring the deep grim-dark oceans with Talanthus and the crew.

   
Made in gb
Regular Dakkanaut




Thanks for the comments.
. . .
The dripping was beginning to get on her nerves. An incessant tip-tap that echoed through the empty places, worming its way into your subconscious. The flare from the light of another member of the command squad briefly passing over her face with only her sombre countenance indicating her demeanour. They should have been halfway finished by now, but while externally intact a series of leakage and internal structural failures had rendered the corridors of the communications facility a nightmarish warren of tangled metal and unlit pools of darkness only occasionly separated by a flooded room they were forced to bypass. The magnetic feild generators that prevented thier las-beams from dissipating under water, a modification that the Mechanicus would have most vehemently opposed had they been present, were switched off to conserve power. They paused briefly and she ran through the same roll call they had every 10 minutes since boarding.

This time one squad didn't reply.
"Squad six please respond"
Silence. Nothing but silence, and that infernal dripping.
"Repeat, squad six please respond."
No reply.

Anya swore under her breath. Loss of contact could mean something as mundane as communications loss via equipment failure, but in an enviroment where equipment failiure could lead to drowning or asphyxiation they made damn sure it never happened. The alternative however was more menacing. A quick consulting of the facility blueprints made up her mind.
"Alright everyone everybody listen up. On deck 4 section 8 there should be an assembly room . All squads are to converge on that location immediately. Clear."
The replys were to the affirmative and the scout squads forged forwards once more, thier flashlights cutting through the obscuring gloom before them, but never illuminating that which lurked behind them.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/11/22 21:46:39


 
   
Made in gb
Regular Dakkanaut




...

Talanthus had never liked the mess halls. For some reason they laid enclosed within the bowels of the hive, cut off from the pristine waters that Salarius's garrison regarded just as natural to them as , if not more so, than land. On the positive side this meant that it was relatively quiet and that he and Ladan could speak without their voices being drowned out in a multitude of conversations. Unfortunately this also meant that when the sergeant strode in with an all too familiar look of hostile intent there was nobody else to target.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2016/12/27 13:19:33


 
   
Made in gb
Regular Dakkanaut




"You two!"
They both cautiously rose from their seats.
"A pair of transports carrying a late shipment to the platform has failed to show up on time, you get to go out and get them to get a damn move on!", and with that the sergeant once again strode off down one of the aqua-hives transitory corridors. Ladan sighed, bemoaning the fact that orders could only be disobeyed under situations that either rendered them obsolete or suicidal without gain. Talanthus however seemed mildly concerned by the news.
"I thought you said Glynnis was in charge of the goods transfer"
"He is."
"Who'd want to risk making him mad by being late?"

...

Anya's face was emotionless. A troopers finger clicked repetetivly against their rifle stock. They'd been stationed inside the assembly room for ten minutes now, yet 4 scout squads had yet to make an appearance. The decor of the assembly room hardly helped to raise spirits. Twisted seats, shattered visual displays, a buckled roof with a minature waterfall vanishid through a tear in the floor through wich a statue of the emperor was jammed; the whole room was drenched in an oppressive pall of shadows. Footsteps, the troopers instinctively tensed, hands straying towards lasguns. An scout stepped into the room, alone.
Anya's second in command challenged him, demanding to know the location of the rest of his sqaud. The scout twisted his neck back over his shoulder as if expecting to see his squad behind him. Instead they all witnessed the clawed hand lunge from the shadows, grasp his neck and with a wrench and corresponding spray of blood yank him beyond the doorway.

Lasbeams lit up the darkness. One trooper sprang to the portal and swept the passageway with torchlight before reporting back.
"Stealer"
They all paled. There wasn't one of them who hadn't heard of the vicious struggles fought between humans and genestealer in the corridors of Salarius long after the main tyranid thrust had been repulsed. Anya's orders cit clearly through the silence.
"We make for the extraction point, now!" Before she had made it ten steps metal screeched as one of the doors began to twist open. They ran.

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2016/12/01 20:10:14


 
   
Made in gb
Regular Dakkanaut




They'd burst out from under the sand like an aquatic hive of wasps. Those closest to the floor were cut down in seconds. The hunting expedition had gone well at first, they'd just started draining tyancergol from the dead tyranids. Then a scream filled the vox-net a trooper drifted limply in the water which went red from the blood spilling out of his body. The lictor shrimp was dissolved by a fullisade of fire almost immediately, but then the sea floor burst asunder. The troopers jetted back to thier subs. Less than a third were still alive to clutch at the handholds on the exteriors as they burst away, and behind them the depths surged with malice.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2016/12/27 12:54:56


 
   
Made in gb
Boosting Space Marine Biker




midlands UK

I love a good siege.

Keep it up!

Blood Ravens, 1700pts

Empire 40 wounds

Astra Militarum 2250pts

Khorne 750pts

Space Wolves 1550pts

Orks 500pts

 
   
Made in gb
Regular Dakkanaut




Anya scrambled over the heaped pile of pitted metal, twisting to yank her squad mate over. Someone's grenade arched over her head to detonate out of sight. They sprinted onwards. Occasionally they tripped when their torches failed to pass over some peice of jagged debris and were hauled to thier feet by their comrades. They were coated in blood now. Troopers had gone down in sprays of blood while Genestealers crumpled with charred holes passing through them. Lasguns flashed and claws glinted in the meagre light they could provide. Eyes peered out from a vent as arms lunges forwards, but her shot caught it in the neck. It fell. A hoarse cry of pain, she spun. The rearmost guardsman was on his back: His lasgun was still jammed into the chest of the corpse that pinned him down. She reached over to clasp his arm and drag him to his feet; the corpse toppled to the floor. She noted his side was slick with something wet. Las-fire from the vanguard cut down a figure bounding towards them. They'd reached the hangar. Yet at the threshold her comrade halted. She could clearly see now that his armour was rent open, crimson ichor running down his side. The Sea Otters transport bays weren't water tight. He'd drown. A quick word. She sealed the door. He stood back to the wall firing into the black. She clambered into one of three Sea Otters. The hanger flooded with water and the subs lifted off into the sea.
"Anya here, where's our fourth sub?"
"Other side of the complex. Squad four managed to bailout of an airlock."
She wondered whether she should consider it lucky or not that they hadn't had enough people left to need the fourth sub.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/12/11 20:39:19


 
   
Made in gb
Regular Dakkanaut




Just in case it isn't clear the extract with the lictor shrimps occurred to a hunting squad in the ocean separate from Anya's scouting mission.


Glyniss's molars gnashed together in constant symphony: whichever dolt had decided to go off racing with his cargo was going to pay for it. Opposite him the Tal'koth 'leader' of the trade convoy remained motionless, it faceted eyes seeming to measure his every move. When the translator buzzed Glynnis began to feel that he might soon suffer the rare privilige of seeing one of the xenos impatient.
"The cargo, it has arrived?"
"Not yet" was the terse reply.
At current they both stood in open air on one of the landing platforms that nestled inbetween the jagged spires of the communication array. Humans and xenos alike stood at ease with each other. That wasn't to say every one of Salarius's guards were freinds with the Tal'konath but without them the planets aqua-hives would have long since starved or drowned through lack of supplies. Glynnis turned away from the alien and , hoping it didn't switch with one of its fellows and force him to repeat the entire conversation, barked into the vox-net for the transports to "get here soon or I'll skin them!"
When he turned back his eyes came to rest several inches higher the than the Tal'konaths head, then had to adjust for a different colour than before. In fact behind it a Tal'konath far more alike to the one he had been speaking to scuttling back towards their ship.
The one opposite to him chirped,
"I am current representative, what is status of our cargo transfer?" It paused.
"Is that the human expression indicative of extreme frustration?"

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/12/19 21:27:32


 
   
Made in gb
Regular Dakkanaut




"Launch shredders." Upon Anya's command the torpedoes sunk away from her Sea Otters, dove past the ones limping towards her and into the stormcloud of Tyranids swarming after them. Instantly razorsharp plasteel monofilaments sprang outwards, rotation forcing the weighted ends away from the torpedoes body, webbing the water around them. Ichor clouded the water. Scraps of fins and smalled creatures littered the immediate vicinity while larger creatures thrashed about in agony as the fibres sunk into their bodies. One of the fleeing vehicles faltered, then drifted as troopers who had been clinging to its exterior jetted away through blackened water. Her own transport, nearly empty ,swung open its doors and they dragged themselves inside. Several collided with the far wall as their fuel slicked hands failed to grasp supports. Now the ejected pilot wad jetting towards her at maximum velocity. Behind him a Sea Shrike lunged through the water. She sighted the Shrike down her barrel. The water around the barrel burst into a cascade of bubbles. She cursed, activated the mag-field generator and shot again. This time the 'nid drifted away limply in the water. The pilot slammed into the cargo bay and the door slid closed, affording Anya one last glimpse of the tumultuous swarm beyond. When Sea Otter four had reported seeing movement in the distance, she hadn't imagined this.

(Can anyone thing of a word I can use instead of water?)

This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 2016/12/28 10:46:06


 
   
Made in gb
Regular Dakkanaut




Talanthus's Sea Otter glided out of the hatchway. Around him the multifarious spires of the aqua-hive clawed through the water. Architecturally baroque edifices meshed with dilapidated make-shift repairs and tumour like additions. Now and then a vehicles would flit out an aperture, a figure could be seen walking down one of the translucent passages between structures, or an outdated defence module shifting uneasingly in its bearings. Other than this, and the seemingly ever-present repair crews who constantly scuttled over the surface fixing this or that, the hive was still.

He noticed Ladan's craft sidling up to his, a precursor to his freinds voice booming through the close range comms system.
"Hey ,we miss a comms broadcast or something? I've usually collided with somebody twice by now!" A wry grin wormed its way onto Talanthus's face. He was exaggerating as usual. Sure ,maybe he had a penchant for near misses but it wasn't as if he had smashed a hab section open. Maybe he had a point though...

The pair of craft swerved round one of the perimeter forts ,easing out of the path of a 6 vehicle convoy. Ladan accelerated past and scraped the hull of one vehicle which only seemed to be correcting its course with brief directional jerks.
"Told you!"
The troopers grasping the apertures which usually held torpoes waved briefly. They should have been in the cargo bay. Wait ,six Sea Otters? Ladan must gave got the numbers wrong earlier. Talanthus shrugged and ,now free from the constricting maze of buildings, pulled forwards into the open.

Anya watched the two craft fade into the distance. They must've been sent to investigate the communications relay between the Hive and surface platform. With it unresponsive the platform was cut off. Initially put down to a malfunction ,the appearance of large scale swarms an disappearance of two transports prior to the communications loss cast it in a far more ominous light.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/01/11 00:06:39


 
   
Made in gb
Regular Dakkanaut




The debriefing lasted over an hour ,different representatives drilling survivors constantly over what they had seen, and what it might mean. During this time the hive was grasped in a complete lockdown while scouts watchfully surveyed the complexes further reaches ,waiting for the vaguest glimpse of the impending swarm. Which was why when two lone Sea Otters exited their bays and swung towards the surface it was naturally assumed they were heading to forwarn the surface platform. Until an official stated
"It's a damn good thing someone sent ships to warn them." Several dozen enquiries ,recriminations and accusations later a number of facts had been ascertained:no one had sent ships to warn the surface; a pair of troopers never reported to their barracks ;the repair team still hadn't fixed the communications system on Deck twelve , Section 16 still hadn't finished and that the Sea Otters were probably still following orders to find a pair of transports that most likely been torn apart by Tyranids. During the next half an hour of enquiries ,recriminations and accusations everything from whose fault it was to whether that leak in the west passageway could be fixed was discussed. Except for any solutions to the problem.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/01/22 18:22:11


 
   
Made in gb
Regular Dakkanaut




Ladan edged the vehicle marginally closer. His heart was racing, his cheeks flushed. There, nestled inside a hollow in the rugged surface of the undersea mountain: partially obscured by the sediment rested the silhouette of a craft identical to his own. Talanthus's voice was echoing back in forth in his head, clamouring violently to be heard. Either that ,or his speakers were broken again. Netherless caution was a sound tactic. This thing could have been here years. Or hours.

The initial plan to rendezvous with the relay beacon before initiating a search sweep had been sound too. Only the second part had proved difficult. Mainly because the relay station had compounded the issue by vanishing. The fact that he had stumbled upon the derelict submarine had been more chance than anything else. Well , maybe he'd been accelerating just a bit too fast when he smashed the coral obscuring the hollow into fragments but if he hadn't he wouldn't have found this. He briefly paused his internal reverie to analyse his happenstance discovery. Was that a good thing?

"Stop procrastinating dammit!," Talanthus's outburst forcibly yanked Ladan out of his minds inner sanctum. He moved closer. As the beam of iridescent light swept over it he couldn't help but noticed the object of their search seemed somehow... assymetrical? Even if the jagged opening rent along its side was a trick of the light, surely he couldn't be imagining the missing wing?
Suddenly he saw movement. There , in the cockpit. As the man strained his eyes forwards he could just about discern a writhing mass under the remaining canopy.
The mass burst towards him

Ladan instinctively attempted to swerve away ,barely missing an outcropping a great deal more substancial than coral, before letting loose a sigh of relief. The eel-like forms of rippers rebounded of his hull. He sighed
Laying motionless within the breached cockpit of the other transport a flesh stripped cadaver was visible.
"Talanthus ,it's scrap:pilot's dead "
"Acknowleged ,kinda bad luck for two transports and the comms relay to go down at once." Ladan gave the wreck one last look over ,began to turn away ,and froze."
"Hey I'm seeing serration marks on here ."
"What do you mean?"
"You remember those wrecks from the invasion, the ones on Titans ridge." A long pause. Then a response.
"Oh no..." Talanthus didn't even maintain a pretence of waiting as his vehicle sped off In the distance ,sitting on the surface ,the platform maintained a faded outline. And below it a shadow loomed.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2017/01/31 22:26:34


 
   
Made in gb
Regular Dakkanaut




Glynnis squinted speculatively at large collection of oblong shapes positioned part way down the platform.
"What are those? They're not on the manifest. Exited chittering responded from multiple directions in a deluge that overwhelmed the translators which barely managed to make out a few phrases relating to "spare storage" and "surplus military stock". Hanging his head in resignation he wondered why for once ,just for once ,everybody couldn't just keep to their schedules. Suddenly every human on the platform winced in synchronization. The alien responsible for the commotion stopped screeching and instead gesturing at the platforms edge: a wash of water smoothly slid over the side of the platform.
"If they hate water so much then why do they bother comm..." The Salarinian paused his muttering. Another wave rippled over the sides.
   
Made in gb
Regular Dakkanaut




. . .
The ensign glared imposingly at the filthy viewport. So what if it was so grimy you could barely glimpse a transport if it were ten strokes away? That didn't mean it was her job. Well, maybe she had been a little to reckless with her steering earlier, but seriously ,all you had to do was give it a little wipe ,hold one eye as close to it as possible and... She held her gaze a moment longer. Shen she was sprinting away ,hands fumbling with her helmet seals. A duet of a low and vicous rending noise combined with a high pitched metallic shriek reverberated throughout the hull before being replaced by a constant roar filling her ears. Then a wall of force struck her back and cast her away like a discarded toy. Twisting in the centre of the corridor she grasped a ceiling pipe. She turned her head. A leering fanged face and outstretched talons filled her veiw. The ensign pushed away, scrabbling for a now absent las-gun. The face glided towards her. First closer, then gone. The infrastructure around its previous position had vanished. An assymetrical chunk torn away at the behest of a colossal limb. The ensign kicked away franticly, into an air lock if not to safety. It was only then that she registered the shrill alarms clamouring from her suits speakers.

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2017/02/28 21:12:12


 
   
Made in gb
Renegade Kan Killin Orks






Northern Ireland

Just thought I'd say hi. I'm still reading but havn't caught up to the end yet. Still enjoying the whole concept.

Words for water (that's where I've read to) - the ocean, the sea, the deep, the tide, the ... Wet stuff. I'm out. Very context dependent in sure.
I'll bet Jules Verne had the same problem. Pick up a copy of 20,000 Leagues and have a look. "Reading fuels writing" and all that.

   
Made in gb
Regular Dakkanaut




Well, thanks for the tip. As for reaching the end , that probablly won't be for a little while. Not that it's going to be a long story , just that I'm sparse in postings.
   
Made in gb
Regular Dakkanaut




Silence lay across the platform; a sodden cloth dulling any echoed. Then the whole edifice shuddered, sending many of Glynnis's troops to their knees. A tumultous groan flooded their senses ,and the platform slowly began to tilt. Those closest to the lowest edge were scrabbling away when the waters erupted. Spined tentacles tore through the surface of the depths and lashed out at the humans positions. Jagged rents were torn in the deck as the titanic appendages smashed past stacks of supplies that had taken all morning to assemble. Gunmen manning autocannons on the towers swivelled into the position, only for many of them to be dragged onto the air and plunged into the sea as shrikes launched themselves past the chaotic surface. Others fell screaming onto the unyeilding deck of the platform as their perches were demolished by errant sweeps of the behemoths limbs. Personnel snapped of las-gun shots sporadically. The Tal'koths strange weapons spluttered out bursts of semi-visible vermillion light that carved smoking apertures through tyranid bodies. Yet between the shrikes onslaught and the havoc wreaked by the bio-titan a coardinated response was impossible. The creatures maw now broke the surface, monsterous fangs clashed together while eyes the colour of the void surveyed its prey with savage intent. Glynnis ,muscles locked up during the opening moments of the engagement ,lined up his maser for a shot. The creatures eye regarded him impassively. Then ,as his finger began to clench around the trigger, he felt himself be bodily lifted up and tossed aside. Moments later the Tal'koth responsible dissapeared as a tentacle smashed into the portion of the deck which the veteran had just occupied. Staggering upright Glynnis found his view confronted with the appendage. Weighty plates of chitin were bound in place around a core of sinew. Between the plates clung a slack brown algae that hung off as if diseased. There were even barnacles clinging to tenousley of the armours surface. Then a slick and slimy feeler emerged from one of these , and quested towards the seargent.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2017/02/28 22:21:49


 
   
Made in gb
Regular Dakkanaut




Then it halted, and boiled whilst steam meandered upwards. It dropped, inert, and the limb dragged itself ponderousley back into the air. Seconds later another tower was reduced to scrap. Glynnis span. His head thrust back and forth in an effort to identify his savior. Metres away lay private Valiensi, limbs wrapped around the Seargants maser, lying still as blood congealed in an ugly stain over the troopers chest. Near the other side if the battle, closest to the beasts gargantuan maw a Tal'koth threw itself with rapidity at a melta-weilding guard. As she tumbled onto the decking, unharmed, the xenos seized the weapon and bounded towards a set of oblong shells strewn from the remains of the alien ship. A prodigous display of strength and one was soaring towards the foe. A tentacle grasped it in mid air, only for a melta-blast to burn its way through the appendage. The crate fell. The Tal'koth lined up another shot. The item rebounded of an armoured ridge, a shot cutting into where it should have been. The third shot was a direct hit.
. . .
Talanthus struggled futily to wrest back control of the craft. One second he had witnessed the station being torn apart by monster of legends, the next his world had been illuminated with a soul searing light. The ship finally settled into a level position. It felt line hours before sight was restored. Just in time to witness a pair of barbed tentacles , charred into blackness, drift into the depths.
. . .
The world blinked its way back into view. Gradually. The first thing he saw had him momentarily rigid with fear, before the Tal'koths face reasembled itself into a semblance of normality. Meanwhile the translator buzzed, a noticable dent disfiguring its features, and seemed to be locked into a single phrase that repeated over and over.
"Surplus military stock."

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/03/13 20:23:35


 
   
Made in gb
Regular Dakkanaut




An oblong hulk of metal tumbled down, deep into darkness. Pitted and scarred, its thrusters blackned, the vessel showed little sign of life. Figures emerged. First one , then several: pale shadows sillouted against the watery void. The clung to the rotating hull like some gorm of strange beetle. A stutter of encoded vox chatter threw itself between them.
"We're sinking."
"I find that obvious."
"Picking up some form of surface structure, scans indicate signs of both regular structure coupled with extensive damage. However it does appear to be stable."
"In that case, we'd best get going." One by one segments of armour plates flaked of thier bodies, discarded to their enviroment. Below lay a slick under layer, corded with mechanical tendons. Only their helmets remained in place, expressionless masks gazing into nothingness. One after another they pushed off from the wreck, limbs propelling themselves upwards, laboriously clambering towards the light.
. . .
Err, right , it's on. This is trooper Ladan Thalmar at... well I think it's roughly 86 minutes past 11. 5 days since tyranid assault upon Salarius surface platform. Basically we're suppossed to keep this run at half-hourly intervals, I think. Apparently it also it activates upon heart rate spike, supposedly. What? Yeah sure. That was, some ensign I think, in the Sea Otter heading back to the platform. We are essentially staking out the platforms original position since it started drifting, which according to the Tal'koth is 1.3457... something miles. So far no sign of vehicles from Salarius. People are beginning to wonder if they'll show up at all. Apparently the plasma mine detonation, the one that nearly toasted us, could have been mistaken for the platform being blown to pieces. The theory that no one talks about, well, what if something's stopping them getting through? Hold on, ramble interrupt, I've got readings. Seven of them, too small to be craft. Prepping weapons... they're really taking their time.

It was a mess. Glynnis's constant roaring, the stacatto chittering of the xenos, the constang clang of repairs and hubbub of human conversation all merged together to form a conglomeration of audible interference that swamped Talanthus's mind and smothered it into dull incomprehension. Five days, five intolerable days. Glynnis wouldn't let him or Ladan take off in the only sea craft they had and the Tal'koth wouldn't leave without news of the refuge, so they were all stuck here together. Happy days, especially when you factored in the lack of rations, medical supplies, and repair materials. The aliens , for all their frantic good intentions, were a limited gift. Their imports were specialist items that the colony could not attain itself, but hardly somethingnthat could seal rent in a bulkhead. For example amongst the cargo was a set of transmittors capable of long distance water proof self powered communication. Only the aqua-hive didn't have one, so they couldn't talk. The murderous din intensified, imposing itself on him as if an alien was standing in front of him screeching incomprehensible words into his face. Which was exactly what was happening. It took a few seconds to connect this, a few more to assemble the sounds into words that seemed vaguely probable.
"Ally! Visitors! ", the cycle looped itself. Eying the sparking translator and its tangled wiring with a small increase to his frown, he tried clarification
"Ally! Ladan! Visitors!." came the clarified response. By now the humans brow looked as if a farmer had taken a plow to it. Maybe he should ask Glynnis. Or at the very leat a Tal'koth with a better translator.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/07/04 21:04:29


 
   
Made in gb
Regular Dakkanaut




Eyes flicked between monitor readings, out of the cockpit and back again, his mind never averting from the fibe shadowy figures enclosed in the vessels carrier compartment. They were roughly humanoid, could talk. They'd also requested to keep the doors open, as if fearful of being entrapped, locked in. Well, the whole platform should know about it by know. Half formulated theories and concepts raced through his brain, jumping from one to the next. The astartes was a name passed to him by his parents, demi-gods and giants of imperial authority. And yet, these somehow did not seem to match that image either. Out of Talanthus's sight the shapes remained in their places, grasping the bays handholds. Silent and unmoving, shadowed and unseen. A few seconds. It might have been missed, or dismissed, had there been anyone to witness. A single convulsive tremor that tore its way through a single body. Gauntlets clasped around its wrists. Seconds, and it was just as secure as before, clinging to the hull. Silent and unmoving. Shadowed and unseen.
   
 
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