Storm Brothers: Lost and Found

To those who have traveled through the vast lengths of the imperium,.
the strange sights that can be found in it's isolated pockets and forgotten spaces are too common. Often in such places the light of imperial truth has faded and the things that lurk inside after millenia are no longer human, if they ever once were.
The brief exchange between the ship's of the Storm Brothers space marine chapter and eldar pirates had inflicted heavy damage to ship, requiring it to dry dock for repairs. The "Perilous" settled in an unmarked system of space seemingly devoid of life. The ship took refuge in the orbit of a deadworld behind the cover of it's moon. Levetian; the librarian of 8th company, stood beside Tylerion on the ship's bridge looking at empty space around them. "There is no life here, captain" whispered Levetian, his words were cold and his tone was hollow and dry. "We are in luck then, whatever evil may have been here has likely past" said Tylerion aloud, hoping to himself he was right. "Or captain, it has yet to come" replied Levetian, Tylerion groaned at the thought of another encounter with the dark horrors he'd faced in the past. "If that is the case, then I hope for all our sake's that these repairs are completed promptly" said Tylerion as he turned and left. Levetian continued to stare into space, the lifelessness of this system disrupted his psyker senses, but strangely enough the presence of warp felt immensely stronger. It was to him like a dream, feeling foggy and yet clear.
The crew of the bridge went about their daily routines, security had been heightened; Levetian's words not having been lost on Tylerion. The astro-navigator serf watched for any movement in the part of the system they occupied. The system was uninhabited, and it was only the diligence of the serf that kept him attentive enough to see the warp space open and an ancient ship that slowly slipped into real space from it. "Unknown vessel on the far starboard!" yelled the serf across the bridge. "Bring me visual, I want to know what the Frak it is" ordered the ship's captain. Red lights flashed and warning klaxxons rang throughout the ship, the vessel surged with life as hundreds of serfs and servitors moved to their battle stations preparing weapons systems and vital areas. The bridge was teeming with life as information streamed in to the captain's pict screens, dozens of serfs analyzed the incoming data on the approaching ship. "Captain, this ship doesn't match anything in our records, it is definitely man made though" reported a serf over the vox. The ship's captain stared at a close-up pict of the strange vessel, it was a product of man and very old. Nearly all of the ship's exterior was bare of paint and encrusted with the detritus of space. It looked like a wreck; probably rusted junk in and out. Though that was said of a lot of ships that the Storm Brothers had recovered, quite often invaluable and rare treasures were found inside. Tylerion coughed as he strode beside the ship's captain, "Looks like that one's seen better days" he said with his usual rye grin. The Ship's Captain made no attempt to hide his concern at the sight of the ship, This place spooked him; an awesome feat against the serf captain who'd held his station nearly a decade since the restructuring of the chapter. Tylerion's words had eased the the old serf's worries, "Yes, my lord it is and from what I can tell quite old. By my best guess, I wager that ship's pre-dates the second founding". Tylerion pondered to himself for several quiet moments, " I am not at all pleased at the thought of remaining in this place any longer than necessary. On the other hand a ship from the heresy would be laden with lost technology". Tylerion watched as the ancient ship floated slowly closer, " Well I for one won't standby providence, Captain prepare for boarding!"
On board the first company's thunderhawk Squads Marik and Hector sat ready for deployment, and further in the back rested the dreadnought Melchoir. The dreadnought's pilot brother Icarus sat across from sgt. Marik arguing with him. " How can you be that dumb Marik? I swear if you can't fight, eat it or sleep with it, then it has no value to you" retorted Icarus with a small measure of his usual arrogance. "I am a humble man, with simple tastes" said Marik aloud, a few marines down the lines coughed in response. Icarus was about to speak the the heavy footsteps of Capt. Tylerion rang aloud. Tylerion stood in front of his men and beside him stood the somber form of Codicer Levetian. "Please don't let me interrupt this enthralling debate, I just thought I would let you know about what we're going to face". Tylerion grinned, " Today our destination is an unidentified ship assured to be from the heresy. As usual we don't know what's inside or if it is occupied, but you marines of the 1st great company know all to well what it may contain". Tylerion and levetian moved to their seats, and the gunship's engines roared as it flew from the bay into space heading toward the derelict ship.
The ship was pulled pull by some unknown force, floating bereft of it's own power. As the gunship neared it's pilot relayed that the corrosion to the ancient ship's exterior was severe. Tylerion groaned, it meant that they would not likely be able to repair it for their own use. It was a reconcilible loss, but that was the ways things went in their line of work. "Captain..." said one of the pilots over the radio, "captain, we have found a viable entrance into the ship".Tylerion rose from his seat and moved to the cockpit. What Tylerion saw was a docking bay entrance on the side of the ship, it was wide enough to easily accomodate the thunderhawk. "We blow the door and secure a landing zone, We'll disembark once the bay has decompressed. Your order's are to leave the bay and wait for us to call for pick-up" said Tylerion, a procedure that he himself had established for the chapter.
The Thunderhawk's destructor cannon blasted a ragged hole in the ship's side, all but destroying the bay doors. The ship slipped in through the hole and hovered, allowing it's passengers to disembark before quickly exiting again. For all their lack of subtlety no presence showed up to greet them. The bay was extremely large, likely meant to hold the bulkier ships from the crusade. Nearly half of it was occupied by the rusting ships and cargo holds, all exposed to the same deterioration as the ship itself. the bay was not nearly as degraded, time it seemed had done little to weaken it. Icarus had initally worried that the floor would not support it's heavy bulk. The floor plate groaned as Melchior's foot pressed down though it held, and Icarus sighed in relief. not more than six months before, during a similar expedition the floor had given way dropping him three floors to a gundeck full of mutants. The two squads formed a horse shoe, creating a perimeter are Capt. Tylerion and Cod. Levetian.
Brother Icarus scanned the area with the myriad of sensors integrated into the dreadnought system. The faint twilight cast by the bay's over head lights did little to aid the small force, but the marines enhanced vision was allowed them to see past the shadows. The age worn defects of the ship were evident by the various sounds that rang out in the darkness. The slow dripping of fluid from leaking pipes, the creaking sound of ancient metal under the burden of weight and the distant pinging of ancients airlock seals breaking. "Captain, I can see the freight entrance to the ship from here." reported Icarus from inside his dreadnought. "If there is anything valuable here, then that would be the best place to start" replied Tylerion as he turned to face Levetian. " Do you sense anything?" he said to the librarian," The warp is still, but I feel it's lingering presence in this shell". "That isn't surprising, Considering how long the may have spent lingering in the warp" said Tylerion, "Let's hope it did't bring any of the warp's denizens with it".
Melchoir's robotic arms ripped open the rusting freight doors, the room rang with the sound of grinding gears and shrieking metal as they were forced apart. Capt. Tylerion peered through the widening gap, waving away the shower of faliing corrosion and dust. The elevator was large enough to drive accomodate a land raider, and seemingly in good enough condition to bear it's weight. The overhead lights flickered, if there wasn't sufficient power running their options would be severly limited. sgt. Marik tapped the panel on the wall, after several seconds silence the elevator jolted in place. The panel lights came on and shadowed machines began to whin and groan. Together with squad Marik, Capt. Tylerion, Levetian and the dreadnought Melchoir stepped onto the elevator platform and waited as the evelator lowered them to ship's hold. The persistent creaking of the ship was the only break in the silence as the marines quietly steeled themselves against the possible adversaries they might face. They elevator came to a jarring halt, in front of them was another pair of doors though it seemed less decrepid than the first. Melchoir again managed to pull them open, though this time it required greater strength and some patience on icarus' part. From their postion in the elevator they could see a large open room with several columns of large objects covered by rotted dust covered tarps. Several were noticable as battle tanks by their long barrels pointing upward from their hulls. Sgt. Marik scanned the room, the detection systems in his helmet showed only his companions behind him. "No signs off life here sir" said Marik over his shoulder, "Of course that doesn't mean much with these warp lost vessels". Marik motioned his squad forward and stepped into the room as they fanned out around the doorway. Melcoir followed behind, keeping it's rifle at the ready as it moved around the tactical squad. Levetian and Tylerion were the last to exit the elevator, and fall in behind squad Marik.
The hold was by no means pristine, but it was in far greater shape than the last. The majority of the lights did not flicker, most that weren't functioning were either out or were simply broken. There was a visible lack of pooling detritus on the floor though the shadows may have played a role in that effort. By Tylerion's guess the assorment of tanks numbered somewhere near thirty, though their individual degree of functionality wasn't without question. Tylerion gripped his relic glaive and walked toward the nearest one. A weathered tarp held over the closest tank, closer inspection showed that is wasn't without it frays as small edges of the tank wore through the gray stained material. Two marines held their bolter's at the ready as Tylerion tore a long section of rotted cloth revealing bare metal and dark green trimmed armor siding. The symbol of a skull over a black spiked halo was painted onto it above him. Tylerion stood quietly trying to recall the meaning of the old icon. Pulling off the rest of the material, revealed the tank was an original predecessor to it's modern cousin. The bulky Thunderer cannon mounted to the improvised additional armour plating gave it a rugged and defiant appearance. Tylerion looked back at his companions, the mystery surrounding the ship was far greater than any of the astartes originally thought. IT was not unknown for the Storm Brothers to run across a ship of this age in their salvaging operation, but for it to simply appear in the materium. Drifting toward them as though propelled by some unseen force. In such a derelict state it roused the suspicions of the marines on board to discover it laden with rows of working technology.
A large set of barred double doors were at the end of the room. The doors looked out of place, it's pitted surface and corroded edges were far worse than anything else around it. Along with Marik and Tylerion, levetian starred at it; his hollow gaze focused as he spoke. "Beyond these doors there is an evil presence that guides this ship, we venture into dark territory if we proceed further" said levetian, the grave tone in his voice resounded with greater severity than usual. "My lord, what are your orders" asked Marik, his unshaken presence calmed Tylerion. "The 1st company's pride is to illuminate the darkness of the imperium. If there are horrors to be found we will destroy them and if there are treasures we will take them".
The melta charges they set exploded, the explosion riped the corroded doors off their hinges and sent them crashing through into the next room. Through the gaping hole the marines saw a long cat walk leading into the inky darkness. The room was imensely large, so large that they none of the marines could see the walls of the ceiling from where the stood. the Catwalk itself spanned far ahead, it was rusted and coverd in thick layers of filth and grime. Sgt. Marik took a cautious step forward testing the strength of the bridge, his boot made a sticky sound as moved in the foul mire under his foot. the catwalk held and he moved forward, his squad following quickly behind. Tylerion and Levetian moved to the front ahead sgt. Marik, Levetian's face steadily became more tense as the feel of the warp grew stronger around him. They had walked for ten minutes, only passing the dark silhouettes of obscure and ancient machinery. Even with the advanced optics in their helmets, none of the marines could see far enough to find the end of the catwalk. It would have mattered little as the catwalk branched off in several directions. The quiet steps resounded in the dark, the only break in silence as the marines moved forward. From the shadows above them a grisly fluid dripped and pooled on bridge behind them. The murky liquid began to take form, gathering up into strange humanoid shapes. Only Levetian caught the action that was taking place, turning just in time to catch several sewage coloured forms rise up from the catwalk floor. They were shaped like men, but looked like filth covered corpses. They were pallid and disfigured, their skin was jaundiced and sickly. murky fluid leaked from festered lesions, and single horn and septic eye burst from it's encephlalitic skull.
"The Warp-spawn are upon us!" roared Levetian as he shot a burning lance of green fire toward the shambling host. The flames burst through the front rank of daemons, sending foul smelling ichor spraying at their feet. The daemons continued to stagger toward them, in their hands were wicked rusting blades that gleamed in the dim light. Marik's squad took position and opened fire into the growing horde. Melchoir leveled it's heavy flamer and rained a gout of burning promethium over foul creatures. Even as the daemons fell more rose from the pooling ichor, and from all around the astartes more of the shambling daemons emerged. If they did not act soon the daemons would surround them cutting them off from escape. Tylerion looked toward the blast open doorway where they had entered, the entire path to it was choked with a mass of the of one eyed daemons. It was beginning look like this entire mission would be for nothing, if everything was in the ship was tainted by chaos. "We must move before these devils over take us!" yelled Tylerion as he fired his pistol into a group of the daemons who had come shambling behind them. "Icarus! clear us a path!" ordered Tylerion over the staccato of fire. The catwalk groaned as Melchoir turned in place, the dreadnought plowed through the daemon horde crushing putrid flesh and rotted bone. The marines fell back closely behind Melchoir as charged down the catwalk. As they neared the intersection, the number of tainted warpspawn increased, shadowed groups of the daemons moved slowly toward them converging at the intersection. Melchoir's flamer brought down their numbers with each pass, but the dent did little against growing tide. "Capt. Tylerion, the catwalk is choked thick with these foul apparitions" said Icarus through the comms. "As can be seen, but both ways offer the same dilemma" replied Tylerion, " Any ideas?". The opportunity for response never came as the groan of the catwalk increased to a high shrill as the cable snapped. The catwalk lurched and began to sway, sending the marines sprawling. Icarus reached out to grab a suspension cable, but his reach fell short and he toppled over the side into the darkness. The pitch of the swinging catwalk increased, throwing dozens of the vile daemons of the side while the marines held fast to the remaining cables. Tylerion stared in shock as the massive form of melchoir disappeared into the stygian blackness. The drop in weight seemed to slow the catwalk until it became an almost unnoticable sway allowing the marines to regain their footing. All but a few of the daemons were gone and the ever growing horde was now only numbered a half dozen. Levetian dispathed the foul creatures with blasts of psychic fire, banishing them back to the immaterium.
"Marik, Hector report!" said Tylerion allowed," what are our loses?". The two sergeants stepped forward, "No casualties in either squad captain, but our ammunition is beginning to run down" said marik. " Brother Icarus went over the side when the catwalk broke, we aren't recieving any comm's activity from him either" continued Hector. "Levetian do you sense anything?, asked tylerion hoping that had not gone to join emperor so soon. "No Tylerion, the warp taint here is fogging my power" replied the librarian; trying to rid the miasma from his mind. "I am of half mind to destroy this warp-cursed ship, and leave this horrid system"yelled tylerion, crushing a metal handrail with his guantleted fist. "We must recover Icarus and melchoir, that is our first priority" said tylerion recovering his calmer tone. "Levetian is it possible to cleanse this level of taint from the ship" asked tylerion referring to the librarian on the matter. "Possible?" levetian sighed," Yes, but whether I can accomplish this alone is another matter entirely". Tylerion thought for second, "Could you at least seal the ship with some sort of warding to prevent the taint from escalating or spreading? Long enough at least for the epistolary's and Ghaladran to cleanse it?" Levetian eye's lit up as the realization of the plan came to him,"Yes! though we need to find whatever focus is being used to bind the warp to this ship and destroy it". "The matter is settled then" Tylerion looked to his squads,"our mission is the recovery of melchoir and icarus, and finding the location of the warp focus!"
Icarus groaned inside the dreadnought's cockpit, rubbing his head were it had smashed against the cockpit wall. He had no way of knowing how far he'd fallen, but looking up he was far enough down that the area above him was as dark as a moonless night. it was pitch black around him, turning on his lights he saw that he was in what seemed to be a repair bay. There were litterings of the usual detritus as well as the stains of chem spills, all looking as ancient as the ship itself.
icarus moved the dreadnought to stand, but as it rose the left leg buckled it slammed hard back onto the floor. Damage from the fall most likely thought icarus to himself, reaching behind him for the tool kit he exited the cock pit to exam the leg. Trained to maintence his dreadnought "melchoir" icarus was amiliar with it's workings to spot what had happened. A piston as well as a hydraulic valve had broken, the force of the landing tearing them loose from their mountings. It was well within icarus' abilities to fix the break, but he'd need to find replacements parts which he did not have. Looking around amidst the machinery he was optimistic that he could find something that usable. Using the lights built into his helmet he paced through the bay searching through the piles of machinery for the materials he needed. The sensors of his helmeted registered neither life or movement around him, and his comms issued only crackling static. A briefly glint in the shadows reveiled a large hydrualic arm, icarus moved toward it circling around a stack ancient garbage.