817.M30, Segmentum Pasificus, Sabbat worlds, Verghast
The situation with Jorren Nox has only gotten worse. Karth Vire was no longer collapsing in stages. Sectors still functioning were already beginning to be treated as deserted.
Others were simply gone, replaced by drifting ash where structure had been. And between them, war has begun on a planetary scale.
Factories are now churning out rail-slugs with enforcer patrols maintaining a semblance of the Board's law, and logistics hubs fighting desperately to keep up with everything.
Sector Aurek Spine – Forward Stabilization Line
Line company 14-B had been promoted to the forward operational cadre without ceremony, without a bonus, and without a choice.
In the minds of the guild anything that has survived should be put as the first. They wanted to test if this company could survive once more. Their longevity was a statistical anomaly that the command board had decided to exploit.
"Command reassignment confirmed," the Sergeant said flatly, his voice buzzing through a cracked vox-unit.
"Cadre command is folding us into the forward line.. We move in five."
Although for the rest of the cadre it was a nightmare, for Jorren it was an opportunity. This attachment to the cadre meant proximity to the primary command center. It meant Jorren was exactly where he needed to be to find a way off this dying rock.
He stood in the ranks as they marched through the flickering gloom of the Aurek Spine. His expression a mask of professional indifference not to be questioned by anyone.
In the Guild Alliance, where turnover was measured in minutes, survival was the only proof of legitimacy required.
They met an incursion at a collapsed rail junction where the massive ore-trains had been twisted into a mountain of jagged iron. It wasn't a spatial breach like the ones in the lower hive; there was no shimmering portal.
It was something waiting for them
Figures stood among the wreckage, humanoids, but most carried the distorted lean, fast-moving silhouettes wrapped in liquid smoke that the company had come to know.
"Contact front!" the Sergeant shouted, his rail rifle snapping to his shoulder.
These enemies were not the madness that plagued the lower levels. They are calculated, the watched and waited, taking in the company's movements before they pounced…
They were faster than the eye could follow, they coordinated themselves like wolves on a hunt with a pack of prey presenting itself to them. They hit the guild's line with the force of a landslide.
A guild trooper to Jorren's left opened fire, his tungsten rounds shattering the head of a lead entity. The creature collapsed like any mortal target would, its purple fluids staining the metal floor.
There was a saying, ~if it can bleed, it can be killed~ and this thought resonated with all the men.
To his right, a trooper screamed as a bladed arm an extension of fused bone and silver, tore through his hazard plate and out through his spine.
"Flank left! Keep the spacing! If they close the circle, we're done!" someone yelled over the roar of gunfire.
The guild's line was holding barely. Jorren fired in the same 3 burst control shots he had done many times over the years. He made sure to keep himself hidden from attention. Consistent fire at joints to disable, then kill shots to terminate…rinse and repeat.
One of the creatures, its skull elongated and its mouth split into a vertical maw, broke through the perimeter and lunged at him.
Jorren stepped aside as the creature came at him with speeds no human could have seen. Raising his weapon and firing 3 shots into its neck.
As the company pushed forward the reason for this push became apparent to the troopers. The guild wanted access to the primary command relay that was deeper in the sector.
It is an armored hub that coordinated the Hive-wide evacuation and off-world transit.
The company always forward in formation, close enough to the Sergeant to hear the orders, yet spread out enough to avoid being "spent" in a meaningless skirmish.
They encountered the second wave near a broken manufactorum gate. A central figure stood behind the front line of these entities.
It was humanoid but too still yet looking at it directly hurt the eyes of the viewer.
The figure raised a hand as a burst of psychic force slammed into the guild formation. It was a crushing wave of pressure applied directly to the nervous system.
Two soldiers dropped instantly, blood streaming from their ears and eyes as their brains seized under the atmospheric weight.
"Spread formation! Overlap your fire!" the Sergeant ordered.
The response was immediate and clinical heavy suppression weapons were deployed, saturating the area with high-frequency sound waves and rail fire. The central entity retreated, using a felled tank as cover against the sound waves
Jorren noted this unsure of what to think of the changer using tactics. This wasn't some chaotic swarm they had formed an army.
As the battle intensified, the men of 14-B focused entirely goal was to survive, but not Jorren. For him survival was not in question but a fact, so even when a Guild officer fell to a stray bolt of iridescent energy, Jorren did not hesitate or grieve for them.
But it held no bearing on him.
When they reached the outer perimeter of the relay, a fortress of reinforced ferocreate and signal towers.
With guild banners still hanging on them torn to shreds and replaced by functional marker pylons and coded beacons. Inside wasn't cleaner, but it was more controlled, buzzing with the hum of high-end processors.
Inside the command space, officers coordinated the death of the Hive. Maps were projected across every surface, showing sector collapses in real-time. Losses were calculated without a pause for breath.
A Commander, his face pale and slick with sweat, turned toward the newcomers.
"You're the remnants of 14-Bravo?"
Jorren stepped forward, nodding once. "Yes."
"Efficient. You've had eyes on the actual breach then" the Commander said, gesturing to a flickering display of the Aurek Spine.
"Assessment is overdue for the secondary junction. Give me a sitrep."
Jorren stepped forward and looked at the raw data. Something stood out to him that those without understanding could not see.
"It looks like a probe, Sir. They aren't trying to break us…they're timing us." Jorren said, his voice clear and devoid of tremor.
"They are currently testing our reaction time. I believe they are looking for a breakthrough point to the primary hub."
The room went quiet for a heartbeat. The Commander looked at Jorren, then back at the map, nodding slowly.
"Adequate observation trooper, central came to a similar conclusion." he looked at Jorren the way one would a child who has done something as simple as walking.
"Continue monitoring the feed. Report any shifts in the saturation level." he said gesturing to the monitor's feed.
Jorren had achieved a goal he had been pressing towards for 3 or more years now. He could leverage this to gain proximity to guild master Emory Thorne.
Far below the battlefield, in the dark heart of the hive, Khoras Veyl felt something change within the hive. A strange call that pushed him towards haste was reverberating within him.
Jorren stood at the edge of the operational space. He could hear the evacuation routes being planned over the secure channels. He could see the schedules for the off-world transit ships being drafted on the secondary screens.
The war outside continued to howl.
The forces of the other sea continued to push against the perimeter, and Guild lines held unevenly. People were dying in ways that would bend the mind of those who saw it.
But Jorren did not rush.
He had finally gotten closer to the goal he had set. He would soon leave this world
SIGH
And let it burn